The Appeal Managing Editor Tara Francis Chan Steps Down

After 3.5 years co-leading The Appeal, Tara Francis Chan is stepping down at the end of 2024. As Managing Editor & Operations Director, Tara oversaw our newsroom and our efforts to build an innovative, equitable, and supportive culture. 

Molly Greene, The Appeal’s Strategy & Legal Director, will continue leading The Appeal with additional help from Research & Projects Editor Ethan Corey, who will run The Appeal’s newsroom day-to-day.

Tara, along with our entire team, relaunched The Appeal in 2021 after it was shuttered by former management. Driven by a desire to see The Appeal’s coverage of the criminal legal system continue, expand engagement with impacted communities, and rethink how newsrooms support journalists, we co-founded one of the country’s first worker-led nonprofit news organizations.

With Molly, Tara grew The Appeal into an award-winning multi-local newsroom recognized for its community engagement and journalistic impact. We have partnered with more than two dozen local outlets and published more than 40 currently and formerly incarcerated writers to produce journalism that centers the voices of the people directly impacted by the issues we cover. The Appeal’s reporting has spurred federal and state investigations, galvanized community movements, improved care in prisons and jails, and helped individuals secure representation and be released. In 2024, The Appeal won LION Publishers’ Journalistic Impact Award and was a finalist for its Business of the Year Award. The Appeal has also won Best Community Engagement Award and Best Investigative Journalism from the Nonprofit News Awards. 

As Managing Editor, Tara oversaw and shaped all our editorial content. She also built The Appeal’s impact measurement system for tracking hundreds of changes across the country and spearheaded our first incarcerated citizens’ agenda for the 2024 election. As Operations Director, Tara managed our care-centered approach to organization building. With Molly, she developed The Appeal’s Care & Collaboration Toolkit, a resource for newsrooms of all sizes and structures interested in better caring for and engaging with their journalists and the audiences they serve.

“It’s been an honor to establish The Appeal as an impactful, community-centered newsroom,” said Tara. “I’m immensely proud of the award-winning journalism we’ve published and equally thankful for the opportunity to build a unique and supportive culture. This team is incredible and I will miss working with them deeply. For now, it’s time for a small break and to see how I can best continue empowering journalists in more newsrooms. I will always be The Appeal’s biggest fan and cheerleader.” 

“It is no overstatement to say that The Appeal would not exist today without Tara,” said Molly. “Her commitment to building equity, transparency, and care into how we work and the journalism we publish is built into the foundation of our organization.”

“We are immeasurably grateful for Tara’s leadership at The Appeal these past 3+ years,” said Josie Duffy Rice, The Appeal’s Board Chair. “Though we’re sad to see her go, we are excited for what she does next. We’re also thrilled to have Ethan Corey take on new responsibilities as we transition into 2025.”

This year Tara started CUNY’s Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership and was a member of INN’s Emerging Leaders Council where she focused on building a leadership transition plan.

We are so thankful to have benefitted from Tara’s leadership, wisdom, and generosity and we’re thrilled for Tara to continue this work transforming our news industry beyond The Appeal.