The News Frontier Database
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March 24, 2011 12:11 PM
Boise Guardian
Pugnacious reporting on Boise's institutions
BOISE, IDAHO — The Boise Guardian, a one-man muckracking blog in Boise, Idaho, has developed an outsized influence and a regular following, thanks to the energy of its proprietor/ reporter, Dave Frazier. No friend of city hall, Frazier has an Idaho court decision named after him. In 2005, he sued the city of Boise for taking out a loan on a new police station...
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December 30, 2010 02:09 PM
California Watch
A watchdog for the Golden State
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In less than two years, California Watch has become a force in American journalism, distributing its content to over eighty different publications and operating with the biggest investigative team in the state. Launched in 2009 as a facet of the Center for Investigative Reporting, California Watch dedicates itself to "high-impact reporting" on health, education, ecology, politics, and public safety. <!-- OPEN...
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January 5, 2011 06:54 PM
Center For Investigative Reporting
Old-school investigative nonprofit takes to the web
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In the world of American investigative nonprofits, the Center for Investigative Reporting is the oldest and one of the best recognized. Founded in 1977 by a small group of investigative reporters, CIR has grown considerably since, amassing numerous awards. It now employs a full-time staff of twenty and works with an annual budget of over $4 million. CIR has broken stories...
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March 24, 2011 03:22 PM
Delaware First Media News
Nonprofit news in text, audio, and video
NEWARK, DELAWARE — Delaware First Media News, an independent news site specializing in news and commentary about goings-on in Diamond State, grew from seeds planted in the nonprofit sector. As explained by Micheline Boudreau, DFM's president and a former news director of a public television station in Delaware, all of the journalists who came together to create the website began in nonprofit journalism--a fact...
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March 24, 2011 10:41 PM
ecoRI
Community engagement through environmental news (and composting)
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — Frank Carini, a Boston native with an accent to match, has gone from sports writing to composting. He founded ecoRI.com in September 2009 after spending twenty years at newspapers on the North Shore in Massachusetts, Cincinnati, and in Newport, Rhode Island. "I was getting sick of the direction of where we were going," he says. "Too much covering press releases and...
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December 8, 2010 03:40 PM
FactCheck.org
A "consumer advocate" for voters
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — In a world of 140-character tweets and political attack ads posted on YouTube, information has become easier to access and easier to release. It's also become more difficult to discern between what information is true and what is false. FactCheck.org rose to the challenge of making those calls in political discourse leading up to the 2004 election and has continued to...
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January 5, 2011 04:17 PM
Fair Warning
Consumer-oriented investigative journalism
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — As the Los Angeles Times newsroom braced itself for another round of buyouts in 2008, Myron Levin, an investigative reporter who had tracked corporate misconduct and lax government regulation for the paper for years, thought hard about what he wanted to do with his career. He took a few walks around the block, talked it over with some colleagues, and then finally...
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February 3, 2011 05:14 PM
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
A pioneer bilingual investigative nonprofit
MIAMI, FLORIDA — When the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) received a $100,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in September of 2010, it marked the launch of Florida's first nonprofit bilingual online investigative reporting organization. Located at the International Media Center at Florida International University, FCIR is emerging as a leader in investigative news and an innovator...
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January 4, 2011 05:17 PM
Grist
Irreverent online environmental magazine offers in-depth reporting with "secret sauce"
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Grist is an irreverent online environmental magazine that aggressively courts young readers, ad dollars, and philanthropic backers. Launched in 1999, the publication could be considered an octogenarian in web years, but maintains the tenor of a cheerful young rebel. To celebrate the nonprofit's tenth anniversary, Grist founder and CEO Chip Giller announced a "Screw Earth Day!" campaign, saying "too many people...
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March 24, 2011 03:48 PM
Inside the Hall
The go-to site for Hoosier basketball fanatics
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA — What began as a couple buddies blogging about their passion for their alma mater has grown into a mecca for fans of Indiana University basketball. Inside the Hall is the perfect web resource for a region known for its devout basketball culture. Started by Alex Bozich, Ryan Corazza, and Eamonn Brennan in 2007 as a hobby, the site soon grew to...
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January 5, 2011 04:26 PM
InvestigateWest
Investigative journalism for the Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Seattle's InvestigateWest may have a small budget and a tiny newsroom--but the organization's impact consistently belies its size. Founded in 2009, the small investigative nonprofit led by former Seattle Post-Intelligencer staffer Rita Hibbard has emerged as a major player in regional journalism, reporting on everything from chronic homelessness to the widespread poisoning of children by rat poison....
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January 3, 2011 06:21 PM
Investigative Reporting Workshop
Multimedia reporting in a university setting
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop is one of sixteen university-based investigative journalism centers, but the only one in the nation's capital. Founded in 2008 by Charles Lewis and Wendell Cochran, both veteran journalists and professors at the university, the Workshop produces original reporting and mentors the next generation of investigative journalists. This dual mandate creates a unique newsroom; undergraduate...
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January 4, 2011 01:20 PM
Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Filling the reporting gap in Maine's state capital
HALLOWELL, MAINE — As the number of reporters covering Maine state government dropped from twenty in 1989 to fewer than ten today, a wife-and-husband duo, two old-school reporters, stepped up. In 2010, Naomi Schalit, a former reporter and producer at Maine Public Radio, and John Christie, former president and publisher of Central Maine Newspapers, launched the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a watchdog...
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January 5, 2011 04:53 PM
MinnPost
The Twin Cities startup is seeking loyal readers for hard news
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab calls MinnPost founder Joel Kramer "one of the brightest stars in the news-startup firmament." The former editor and publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Kramer started his nonprofit in 2007 with a rolodex of veteran journalists to whom he offered freelance work, and $1.2 million dollars in commitments from foundations and private donors. This was...
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March 24, 2011 04:04 PM
Nebraska Watchdog
Think tank-funded investigations for the Cornhusker State
LAVISTA, NEBRASKA — Nebraska Watchdog, which launched in September 2009 with longtime newsman Joe Jordan as its sole employee, is a one-man shop focusing on investigative and statehouse news in the Cornhusker State. The site is part of a network of sites around the country that share the Watchdog name. Jordan spent twenty-nine years as a political and investigative reporter for KMTV CBS in Omaha,...
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March 24, 2011 04:45 PM
Nevada News Bureau
Think tank-funded statehouse news for the Battle Born State
HENDERSON, NEVADA — The Nevada News Bureau is a nonprofit organization launched in October 2009 to cover state politics and statehouse news and provide its work free of charge to other outlets in the Battle Born State. It was originally formed under the auspices of Citizen Outreach, a conservative nonprofit think tank run by Chuck Muth, Nevada's leading conservative anti-tax activist. The Bureau was...
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January 4, 2011 01:33 PM
New England Center for Investigative Reporting
Hard-hitting investigations in and around the Boston area
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — In less than two years and with an annual budget of less than $500,000, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has taken on the state division of banks and the Salvation Army. They've brought down a high-level public official, and had their work appear in publications across the state and in every medium imaginable. And they've...
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March 24, 2011 12:44 PM
New Hampshire Watchdog
Long-term investigations, libertarian style
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — The draw of presidential politics is a strong one in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. Every four years, the Granite State finds itself inundated with a new band of ambitious hand-shakers, and local political reporters find themselves dutifully shuffling from dinner halls to town halls to school halls, picking up scraps of policy platforms and hints of presidential aspirations...
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December 29, 2010 03:17 PM
NJ Spotlight
Trenton's statehouse startup
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY — NJSpotlight.com, which CJR profiled in September 2010, is a policy-focused news site based in the Trenton, N.J. state house. Launched in early 2010 by two former Newark Star-Ledger reporters, John Mooney and Tom Johnson, the site focuses on issues relating to the state budget, environmental and energy legislation, education policy, and health care. "We are nonpartisan, independent, policy-centered and community-minded," says...
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January 5, 2011 06:00 PM
Oakland Local
Susan Mernit & co. cover their corner of the Bay
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Born from the community outrage that followed a local police-on-civilian killing caught on cell phone and spread across the Internet, one-year-old Oakland Local hopes to grow its professional reporting in 2011, while keeping its street-level perspective on the sometimes dangerous California port city it covers. Founder Susan Mernit edits and publishes the Local with an editorial staff of eight--none of whom...
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March 24, 2011 12:49 PM
Oklahoma Watch
An investigative nonprofit for the Sooner State
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA — Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit investigative reporting website launched in December 2010 under editor Tom Lindley, a veteran of the state's two major daily papers, the Oklahoman and the Tulsa World--credentials that Lindley says got him the job, as the two papers share resources with Oklahoma Watch and the editors of both papers sit on its executive board. Lindley says Oklahoma...
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March 24, 2011 11:45 AM
Ozarks Unbound
One man (and three contributors) in the wide world of northwest Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS — The challenges have been twofold for Christopher Spencer, the veteran reporter who founded Ozarks Unbound after he was laid off from his gig at the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. The first, simply, is revenue. The second is establishing a journalistic brand when there's only one of him (with three contributors) cranking out news about northwest Arkansas, a metro region of...
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January 21, 2011 03:25 PM
Portland Afoot
Portland-based transportation advocacy
PORTLAND, OREGON — In a culture where the car is often the primary mode of transportation, the web/print hybrid Portland Afoot has set out to inform Portland citizens about the wide world of transportation alternatives. After leaving his job as a reporter for The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., founder Michael Andersen felt that he could attract a devoted audience for a new journalism venture...
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January 5, 2011 06:26 PM
ProPublica
The web's best-known muckraker
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In the world of investigative nonprofit news organizations, ProPublica is a giant. Its staff of nineteen reporters has broken big stories on everything from the lax supervision of British Petroleum to the dangers of drilling for natural gas. Founded in 2007 by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, and Stephen Engelberg, a former managing editor...
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January 4, 2011 01:59 PM
Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network
Investigative journalism with statewide import and local impact
DENVER, COLORADO — On December 16, 2010, Laura Frank, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network, delivered her commencement speech for the University of Colorado's soon-to-be-defunct journalism school. Frank was optimistic about the future of the industry: "I now recognize you actually are embarking on this adventure at one of the most exciting times - perhaps the most exciting time...
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December 31, 2010 12:51 AM
Small Wars Journal
An information hub and blogging network for some of the biggest names in military thought
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT of COLUMBIA — Although it's right to call Small Wars Journal a niche publication, doing so misrepresents the site's true influence. "Small wars," as the site uses it, is a kind of catch-all term for counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism, and other pervasive features of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although SWJ may have the narrow readership of a trade or academic journal, its...
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January 5, 2011 06:08 PM
Streetsblog
Public transportation reporters/advocates in NYC, DC, LA, and SF
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Transport-obsessed site Streetsblog--which focuses on everything from bike lines to subway fare hikes--was born, appropriately, in transport-obsessed New York City. Originally launched in 2006 by Aaron Naparstek, it has since branched out to cover transportation in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Streetsblog has its origins in the advocacy movement, focusing on local...
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January 5, 2011 04:38 PM
The Center for Public Integrity
Twenty years' worth of investigative journalism for the public welfare
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — The Center for Public Integrity celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2010 with a YouTube video detailing its many accomplishments. The organization has won more than forty national journalism awards, pursued more than seventy major investigative projects, published sixteen books, and, perhaps most significantly, has been cited in print and electronic media more than 15,000 times. Now, the...
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January 5, 2011 08:37 PM
The Chicago News Cooperative
Newspaper-style journalism for the Chicagoland area
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — The Chicago News Cooperative was famously the first outside news organization to produce entire pages for The New York Times--but the deal was in the works before the CNC was even a fully formed idea. During the summer of 2009, CNC co-founder and editor James O'Shea, a former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune (and, from 2006 to 2008, one of the...
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March 24, 2011 10:39 PM
The Daily Yonder
Local rural news on a national level. Yes, you heard right.
WHITESBURG, KENTUCKY — The Daily Yonder strives towards a paradoxical mission: local news on a national level. The website covers rural news and rural issues, posting about one to four new articles a day. The Yonder's mission is to fill a local journalism void in rural areas, and to that end it allows small town papers to publish its content for free. The website...
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March 24, 2011 11:35 AM
The Florida Independent
Legislative watchdogging and more
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Launched in May 2010 with a $352,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, The Florida Independent is the newest member of CEO David Bennahum's American Independent News Network (AINN). There are nine state-wide news sites in the nonprofit network, including sites for Colorado, Michigan, Iowa, Texas, and Minnesota. After its first year in publication, the Florida Indepenedent has found a niche in...
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March 24, 2011 12:20 PM
The Lens
Investigative reporting on The Big Easy
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Launched in January 2010, The Lens is an eight-person nonprofit investigative news website partnered with weekly papers and a local television station in New Orleans. The site aims to fill the gaps that are no longer being covered by New Orleans's cash-strapped traditional news operations. Right now, The Lens's goal is to produce big, investigative stories every two weeks, and...
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January 19, 2011 04:42 PM
The Locust Fork News-Journal
A one-man purveyor of mobile journalism performance art
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — The Locust Fork News-Journal, like many websites, is wholly devoted to the quirks, whims, emotions, and talents of its founder--in this case, a former newspaper reporter and self-proclaimed champion of the "independent watchdog Web press" named Glynn Wilson. Unlike most sites (including many owned by the "corporate media" Wilson rails against) the News-Journal is stable and profitable--a testament to what can...
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January 14, 2011 12:47 PM
The Rapidian
Grand Rapids-based citizen journalism
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Grand Rapids-based The Rapidian takes the concept of grassroots citizen journalism to heart. A community-wide project, operating under a for-us/by-us ethos, The Rapidian was created by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, a nonprofit media and technology support organization for the Grand Rapids area. The Center began as a public access television station, and currently operates two television stations, a noncommercial...
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January 5, 2011 03:54 PM
The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University
The first university-based investigative nonprofit
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS — In 2004, former Washington Post reporter Florence Graves founded The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, thereby creating the very first university-based investigative nonprofit. In less than seven years, The Schuster Institute has snatched up more than ten awards and had its work published everywhere from Foreign Policy to Good Housekeeping. It is also one of the few American...
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December 29, 2010 02:01 PM
The St. Louis Beacon
"News that matters" for St. Louis
St. LOUIS, MISSOURI — Margaret Freivogel's thirty-four years as a reporter and editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch came to an end when she took a buyout in 2005. "Several of us took buyouts without any intention of doing anything else at that point," Freivogel says. "We were just kind of weary." But within a year, Freivogel and a few former colleagues had begun work on...
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January 4, 2011 05:48 PM
The Texas Tribune
Political reporting and investigations for the Lone Star State
AUSTIN, TEXAS — The Texas Tribune, which writer Jake Batsell profiled for CJR in July 2010, focuses on state politics, government, and investigative reporting, and prides itself on finding innovative ways of presenting the news to an increasingly expanding audience. The nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization has helped redefine online journalism and extended its goals of civic engagement far beyond the Internet. ...
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January 4, 2011 02:10 PM
The Watchdog Institute
Investigative journalism for San Diego and beyond
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — Investigative editor Lorie Hearn does it all. She runs the business, raises the funds, edits the stories, does the books, and dusts the office. She even brings the bagels and cream cheese. Hearn, a former editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune, now leads The Watchdog Institute, a three-person nonprofit investigative outlet run out of San Diego State University. The site...
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March 24, 2011 11:50 AM
Tucson Sentinel
Continuing an underdog media legacy in Tucson
TUCSON, ARIZONA — After a 138-year run, the Tucson Citizen, a daily that reported on such historic events as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, closed its doors in May of 2009. Dylan Smith, the Citizen's online editor, was among the many journalists displaced by the paper's disbanding. Not content to let the Arizona Daily Star claim victory in Tucson's newspaper war, Smith undertook what...
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January 5, 2011 05:30 PM
voiceofsandiego.org
A nonprofit news innovator in Southern California
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — Exposing the darker side of a sunny beach city, the six-year-old news site Voice of San Diego is having a larger influence than its small size might suggest. With 170,000 unique visitors a month, the nationally renowned nonprofit has an annual budget of $1.2 million (mostly from grants), a slim staff of fifteen, and a content-sharing deal with NBC San Diego....
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March 25, 2011 03:09 AM
VTDigger.org
Deep coverage for the Green Mountain State
MONTPELIER, VERMONT — As the name suggests, VTDigger (pronounced "V.T. Digger," not "Vermont Digger") aims to provide deep coverage of local issues in the Green Mountain State. "I wanted to follow stories in-depth," explains Anne Galloway, the publication's editor-in-chief. "Not all of our stories are investigative; but we want them all to go deep." While it's not all hard-hitting political stories--the day after Christmas, Digger...
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March 24, 2011 03:27 PM
West Virginia Watchdog
Think tank-funded West Virginia political news and investigations
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA — West Virginia Watchdog is a one-man shop focusing on investigative and statehouse news in the Mountain State. The site is part of a network of sites around the country that share the Watchdog name. The Watchdog's sole editorial employee is Steven Allen Adams, who is also a stringer for Reuters and contributes to a Charleston, W.V. entertainment news website called Kanawha...
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January 4, 2011 03:26 PM
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Investigative reporting for the Badger State
MADISON, WISCONSIN — In just under two years, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has broken over twenty-five major stories, ranging from the increased dependence on immigrant labor in the dairy industry to the stories behind the alarmingly high Native American suicide rates. The two-person team, led by executive director Andy Hall out of an office at the University of...
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January 5, 2011 07:19 PM
WyoFile
Enterprise reporting for the Equality State
CASPER, WYOMING — Even though WyoFile covers the goings-on of the least populous state in the union, it still finds plenty of stories to tell. Launched in 2008 by former Los Angeles Times reporter Rone Tempest and entrepreneur Christopher Findlater, the site features a plethora of in-depth, locally focused reporting: a profile of Casper's last locally owned grocery store; a look at the...
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January 4, 2011 03:45 PM
Yale Environment 360
In-depth environmental news, commentary, and analysis
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT — Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine that publishes long-form environmental journalism by prominent reporters, academics, and policymakers. A nonprofit backed primarily by two heavyweight philanthropic foundations, e360, as it's known, isn't subject to the market pressures squeezing many outlets. That leaves its full-time staff of three to focus on producing in-depth news, commentary, and analysis--and, more recently, extended video reports--on a...
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