The Center for Public Integrity, Author at Center for Public Integrity https://publicintegrity.org Investigating inequality Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:11:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://publicintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CPI-columns-new-color.jpg The Center for Public Integrity, Author at Center for Public Integrity https://publicintegrity.org 32 32 201594328 Public Integrity journalists win Nonprofit Newcomer, Breaking Barriers awards https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integrity-journalists-win-nonprofit-newcomer-breaking-barriers-awards/ Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:11:20 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122670 A woman stands at a podium below the picture of another woman on a screen that says "Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year: Ashley Clarke, Engagement Editor, Center for Public Integrity."

The Center for Public Integrity has won the Institute for Nonprofit News’ Breaking Barriers Award, and Audience Engagement Editor Ashley Clarke has been named Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year. At an awards ceremony in Philadelphia Wednesday, Clarke was honored for helping transform the mission, workplace culture and partnerships of one of the country’s oldest nonprofit […]

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A woman stands at a podium below the picture of another woman on a screen that says "Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year: Ashley Clarke, Engagement Editor, Center for Public Integrity."Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Center for Public Integrity has won the Institute for Nonprofit News’ Breaking Barriers Award, and Audience Engagement Editor Ashley Clarke has been named Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year.

At an awards ceremony in Philadelphia Wednesday, Clarke was honored for helping transform the mission, workplace culture and partnerships of one of the country’s oldest nonprofit news organizations.

Unhoused and Undercounted,” a Public Integrity investigation by data journalist Amy DiPierro and senior reporter Corey Mitchell, in partnership with The Seattle Times, Street Sense Media and WAMU/DCist, was recognized with the Breaking Barriers Award. The series, for which Clarke coordinated audience engagement, showed that local school districts across the country were failing to identify and serve hundreds of thousands of homeless students.

The Breaking Barriers Award honors journalism that brings “new understanding to an issue or topic affecting people or communities that are historically underrepresented, disadvantaged or marginalized, resulting in impactful change.”

Two other Public Integrity investigations, “Unequal Burden” and “Who Counts?,” were finalists in the INN Nonprofit News Awards’ best explanatory reporting category.

A smiling, seated woman in a blue sweater and glasses and a name tag that says, "Ashley Clarke," gives two thumbs up to the camera.
Center for Public Integrity Audience Engagement Editor Ashley Clarke gives two thumbs up after winning the Institute for Nonprofit News’ Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year Award Wednesday in Philadelphia. (Elaina Di Monaco / Center for Public Integrity)

Clarke, 25, joined Public Integrity in 2021 after working at NBC4 Washington as a production assistant and weekend assignment editor. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, where she studied multiplatform journalism and Arabic.

She helped define and enforce a newsroom-wide principle of reporting “with and in service to” the people and communities closest to the problems and solutions Public Integrity tackles. And she helped build an innovative local journalism collaboration model that was featured in a keynote address at the 2023 Collaborative Journalism Summit in June. 

“Ashley joined Public Integrity as we were defining a new mission that focused all of our investigative journalism tradition on confronting inequality in the U.S., and she saw right away that it would require a different approach to our journalism and how we treat our colleagues, sources and partners,” said Public Integrity Editor in Chief Matt DeRienzo. “I think she immediately recognized the potential of the nonprofit journalism model to upend deeply unequal power structures around who has access to information and how people’s stories are told. But also that nonprofit news can reinforce and protect those systems if not bluntly challenged.” 

“I’m incredibly honored to be recognized in this way,” Clarke said. “A few short years ago, I could not have imagined that I would be sitting alongside such talented journalists let alone be celebrated for my work.” 

In addition to her role in engagement and partnership work in the newsroom, Clarke is a steward in the Public Integrity union and is co-chair of a staff-led Public Integrity Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Her reporting has prompted reform of a Washington, D.C., housing program and contributed to a project that exposed how state tax policies are placing a disproportionate burden on lower-income people. That work has been honored with multiple awards this year. And in February, Clarke was named to Editor & Publisher magazine’s 25 under 35 list of young leaders having an impact on the journalism industry.

Last week, Public Integrity won a national 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for its portfolio of investigative reporting about inequality in the United States, as well as an Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Feature Reporting.

Public Integrity’s journalists have been recognized with numerous other honors in recent months, including the Paul Tobenkin Award, a Peabody Award nomination, a National Headliner Award, an Excellence in Financial Journalism award, a National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award, the Sigma Award recognizing the world’s best data journalism, two finalist honors for the Shaufler Prize for reporting about underserved people, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s “Best in Business” awards, the Gracie Awards honoring media produced by and for women, the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Dateline Awards, and the Signal Awards recognizing the country’s best podcasts.

Founded in 1989, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

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Fundraising ‘schemes’ investigated by Public Integrity lead to arrests https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/fundraising-schemes-investigated-by-public-integrity-lead-to-arrests/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 18:48:10 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122599

Two men investigated by the Center for Public Integrity for a story about groups that fundraise for causes like childhood leukemia but keep virtually all the money have been charged in connection with “schemes to defraud donors,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Richard Zeitlin, 53, and Robert […]

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Two men investigated by the Center for Public Integrity for a story about groups that fundraise for causes like childhood leukemia but keep virtually all the money have been charged in connection with “schemes to defraud donors,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Richard Zeitlin, 53, and Robert Piaro, 73, were both arrested and charged Thursday with wire fraud in connection with telemarketing. 

Public Integrity reported in 2019 that Zeitlin, of Las Vegas, ran telemarketing businesses that helped fuel a trend of political action committees spending little on the causes they were supposedly benefiting. The pitches for donations came on behalf of groups that sounded like charities, playing on donors’ sympathies for ill children, struggling veterans and others in need.

“During the last four years,” reporters Sarah Kleiner and Chris Zubak-Skees wrote, “the U.S. saw a significant spike in the number of PACs that raise most of their money from small-dollar donors before plowing much of it back into salaries, administrative costs and raising more cash. … PACs that contract with Zeitlin account for about half of that spike.”

The indictment alleges that Zeitlin directed his employees to portray PACs as charities, then “made efforts to conceal” those actions.

Piaro, of Wisconsin, ran PACs such as Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer. That group raised more than $2 million from 2018 through January 2020 but “made only a single charitable donation of approximately $10,000 to one breast cancer charity … and did not otherwise materially fulfill the representations made to donors,” the indictment alleges.

Both men “allegedly exploited these important causes and the good intentions of everyday citizens to steal millions of dollars in small donations,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

Neither man’s attorney could immediately be reached for comment. But Lance Maningo, Zeitlin’s lawyer, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his client had been cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for more than a year.

Public Integrity’s investigation into Zeitlin’s operation was cited in a class-action lawsuit filed against him in 2021. “Instead of putting the millions of dollars raised by the Zeitlin companies to work for these noble causes, the scam PACs and their complicit treasurers (who also profit from this massive scheme), funnel nearly all of the funds back to the Zeitlin companies through an array of bogus and inflated overhead expenditures,” the lawsuit stated. 

Zeitlin denied the allegations in the suit, which is pending.

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Public Integrity podcast honored with NABJ award https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integrity-podcast-honored-with-nabj-award/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 16:32:39 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122520 Center for Public Integrity logo

Season 2 of the Center for Public Integrity’s podcast, “The Heist,” has won a 2023 Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. “The Wealth Vortex,” which confronted America’s racial wealth gap through the story of an Iowa woman attempting to open the country’s first Black-owned bank in decades, was recognized by […]

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Center for Public Integrity logoReading Time: 2 minutes

Season 2 of the Center for Public Integrity’s podcast, “The Heist,” has won a 2023 Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

The Wealth Vortex,” which confronted America’s racial wealth gap through the story of an Iowa woman attempting to open the country’s first Black-owned bank in decades, was recognized by NABJ for best interactive feature.

In addition to a five-episode podcast, the project included long-form text reporting, photography, drone video, resources for readers and listeners, a limited-run newsletter to share behind-the-scenes details, and an interactive text-messaging service pointing to more about the story. 

The podcast, produced in partnership with Transmitter Media (now Pushkin), was nominated for a Peabody award earlier this year in addition to numerous other journalism and podcast industry honors.

Season 3 of The Heist — “Land of Broken Promises” — will be out in October. Land of Broken Promises will explore the federal government’s role in harming generations of Black farmers.

“I’m grateful to this newsroom for giving reporters time and support to dig deeply into entrenched problems that fuel inequality, and grateful to the people who share their experiences with us,” said Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Public Integrity editor and senior reporter who hosted season 2. “We’re honored to receive this recognition from the National Association of Black Journalists.” 

In addition to winning a 2023 NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for best interactive feature, Public Integrity was a finalist for best news story for an investigation by Ashley Clarke and Amy DiPierro into a Washington, D.C., housing program. The story was published in partnership with the Washington Informer newspaper.

In addition to its Peabody nomination, Season 2 of “The Heist” has also been recognized this year with an Excellence in Financial Journalism award for best audio reporting; an award from the Shaufler Prize; a Signal Award silver medal; a “Best in Business” award; and finalist honors from the Ambie Awards, Dateline Awards, WAN-IFRA North American Digital Media Awards, Online Journalism Awards and the INN Nonprofit News Awards.

Public Integrity’s investigative reporting about inequality in the United States was recently awarded a national 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. Other Public Integrity work this year has been honored with the Paul Tobenkin Award, a National Headliner Award, Mental Health America’s 2023 Media Award, Dateline Awards, the Gracie Awards and the shortlist for the Sigma Award recognizing the world’s best data journalism. 

Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

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Public Integrity wins Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integrity-wins-edward-r-murrow-award-for-overall-excellence/ Wed, 16 Aug 2023 19:40:32 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122465 Center for Public Integrity logo

The Center for Public Integrity has won a 2023 national Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. It recognizes a body of work by the nonprofit investigative newsroom that confronts widening inequality in the U.S. through reporting that’s rooted in innovative data analysis, powerful storytelling, historical context and collaboration with local journalists and sources closest […]

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Center for Public Integrity logoReading Time: 3 minutes

The Center for Public Integrity has won a 2023 national Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence.

It recognizes a body of work by the nonprofit investigative newsroom that confronts widening inequality in the U.S. through reporting that’s rooted in innovative data analysis, powerful storytelling, historical context and collaboration with local journalists and sources closest to the problems and solutions in question.

Presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards recognize outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism. 

Public Integrity was also recognized with a 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for Feature Reporting for senior reporter Yvette Cabrera’s examination of a Navajo man’s quest to heal his land, his people and himself from sickness caused by uranium mining, part of the federal government’s quest to build a nuclear arsenal.

“An overall excellence award is such wonderful recognition of the clarity and commitment Public Integrity colleagues have about the organization’s mission of confronting inequality through investigative reporting, and to the work of hundreds of local journalists who have collaborated and partnered with us in this work,” said Public Integrity Editor in Chief Matt DeRienzo. “Every single person at our small-but-mighty nonprofit, both newsroom and business-side staff, had a hand in making this work happen and the impact on people’s lives that has resulted.”

The portfolio of work recognized for Overall Excellence included:

  • Unhoused and Undercounted,” an investigation in partnership with The Seattle Times, Street Sense Media and WAMU/DCist that exposed school districts’ failure to identify and serve homeless students across the country. It was followed by calls in Congress for accountability by federal agencies and an increase in federal funding for local schools to address the problem.
  • The Wealth Vortex” and Season 2 of “The Heist” podcast, which showed how government policies from Reconstruction to the present day have compounded to give the country a wider Black and white wealth gap than existed when civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s. 
  • Unequal Burden,” an investigative series in partnership with ICT showing how state tax policy and federal tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans have helped maintain and expand the wealth gap.
  • Who Counts?,” which found that 26 states made access to voting and political representation less equal in the past two years as the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election and a new super-majority on the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to attacks on democracy unprecedented in modern times. 
  • Harm’s Way,” in partnership with Columbia Journalism Investigations and Type Investigations, which revealed the federal government’s failure to help communities forced to relocate due to the impacts of climate change.
  • Attacked Behind the Wheel,” in partnership with Newsy, which exposed the reality just below the surface of a Biden administration push for more women to become truck drivers as supply chain issues gripped the country: a pattern of sexual assault and labor abuses faced by women who have joined truck driver apprentice programs.
  • And “Institution of One,” which investigated the lack of safe appropriate housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Public Integrity’s journalists have been recognized with numerous honors in recent months, including the Paul Tobenkin Award, a Peabody Award nomination, a National Headliner Award, an Excellence in Financial Journalism award, the Sigma Award recognizing the world’s best data journalism, two finalist honors for the Shaufler Prize for reporting about underserved people, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s “Best in Business” awards, the Gracie Awards honoring media produced by and for women, the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Dateline Awards, and the Signal Awards recognizing the country’s best podcasts. 

Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

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In their own words: Disabled storytellers share what ‘home’ means to them https://publicintegrity.org/health/institution-of-one/safe-homes-for-people-with-disabilities-in-their-own-words/ Fri, 11 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122257 Hailey Simon uses American Sign Language to tell her story about what home means to her. She has short dark hair and wears glasses. She is reading from a paper on a wooden stand. Behind her is a picture of a stone path and trees. To her right is a green door with a knob in the middle.

The Center for Public Integrity held an event on July 26 — the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act — called “What is Home?” that explored the challenges of finding safe homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. At the event, there were four storytellers with disabilities who shared what “home” means […]

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Hailey Simon uses American Sign Language to tell her story about what home means to her. She has short dark hair and wears glasses. She is reading from a paper on a wooden stand. Behind her is a picture of a stone path and trees. To her right is a green door with a knob in the middle.Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Center for Public Integrity held an event on July 26 — the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act — called “What is Home?” that explored the challenges of finding safe homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

At the event, there were four storytellers with disabilities who shared what “home” means to them. Here is what they had to say:

Paul Costantini shares what home means to him during Public Integrity’s “What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community” virtual event.

Paul Costantini is an actor with Detour Company Theatre, which provides theater training  for adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities.

Leah Mapstead shares what home means to her during Public Integrity’s “What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community” virtual event.

Leah Mapstead, a Detour actor who also volunteers at the Phoenix Herpetological Society.

Hailey Simon shares what home means to her during Public Integrity’s “What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community” virtual event.

Hailey Simon is a life-long storyteller who is Deaf. 

Sophie Stern shares what home means to her during Public Integrity’s “What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community” virtual event.

Sophie Stern is a dancer at Glendale Community College and an actor in Detour Company Theatre. 

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Public Integrity nominated for ‘general excellence’ Online Journalism Award https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integrity-nominated-for-general-excellence-online-journalism-award/ Mon, 07 Aug 2023 17:39:11 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122252 Center for Public Integrity logo

The Center for Public Integrity is a finalist for the Online Journalism Awards’ coveted general excellence award. The nonprofit investigative news organization is one of three finalists in the small newsroom category, alongside Honolulu Civil Beat and The Markup. Finalists in the award’s larger categories include The New York Times and The Washington Post. Public […]

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Center for Public Integrity logoReading Time: 2 minutes

The Center for Public Integrity is a finalist for the Online Journalism Awards’ coveted general excellence award.

The nonprofit investigative news organization is one of three finalists in the small newsroom category, alongside Honolulu Civil Beat and The Markup. Finalists in the award’s larger categories include The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Public Integrity investigates inequality. In the case it made to ONA for the award, the newsroom noted that exposing and explaining inequality “requires an approach to investigative reporting that engages the people closest to it.”

“Rather than the traditional investigative reporting notion of catching a bad guy breaking the rules, it demands an examination of the rules themselves: Systems of government and society that are working exactly as designed, but by design create or widen inequality,” Public Integrity Editor-in-Chief Matt DeRienzo wrote in the newsroom’s entry.

Public Integrity investigations in the past year have dug into voting inequities in every state, tax policies that increase economic inequality, assaults on women truckers because of insufficient safeguards in training programs, homeless students falling through the cracks of a law intended to help them and the lack of safe appropriate housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, among other stories.

“I’m so proud of the work that Public Integrity’s staff has done in the past year and continues to do to reveal inequality across a wide span of topics,” said Senior Editor Jennifer LaFleur.  “Their work reflects deep research, unique data analysis and rare efforts to make stories accessible to everyone.”

At last year’s Online Journalism Awards, Public Integrity won the pandemic reporting category, for a project about the COVID housing crisis reported with The Associated Press, and was a finalist in two other categories.

The awards are organized by the Online News Association, the world’s largest digital journalism association. The organization will name winners later this month and honor them at a ceremony in Philadelphia Aug. 26.

Other Public Integrity work this year has been honored with the Paul Tobenkin Award, a National Headliner Award, the Sigma Award recognizing the world’s best data journalism, Mental Health America’s 2023 Media Award, Dateline Awards, the Gracie Awards and nominations for Peabody and Ambie awards. 

Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

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Public Integrity launches effort to support local investigative reporting https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integrity-local-initiative-investigative-reporting/ Tue, 01 Aug 2023 18:30:00 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=121855 Center for Public Integrity logo

The Center for Public Integrity is setting out to strengthen local investigative reporting across the country, through partnerships with local newsrooms designed to systematically exchange knowledge and provide ongoing support. The initiative will prioritize news organizations serving communities that are traditionally under-resourced yet have the potential to produce groundbreaking stories exposing systemic inequalities affecting their […]

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Center for Public Integrity logoReading Time: 4 minutes

The Center for Public Integrity is setting out to strengthen local investigative reporting across the country, through partnerships with local newsrooms designed to systematically exchange knowledge and provide ongoing support.

The initiative will prioritize news organizations serving communities that are traditionally under-resourced yet have the potential to produce groundbreaking stories exposing systemic inequalities affecting their audiences. It challenges the collapse of investigative journalism on the local level, where the financial woes of newspapers have left municipal officials and other power players largely unsupervised, leading to an increase in corruption, inefficiency, and abuse of power.

This initiative is funded by an initial $600,000 in grants from James B. McClatchy Foundation, Wichita Foundation, Knight Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, and others. It involves hiring data journalists, training journalists in investigative techniques, developing equitable partnerships, and providing free access to more than 1.8 billion public records. 

Public Integrity’s goal is to be a learning partner for local investigative journalists who play a vital role in their communities, starting with a few partnerships then expanding nationwide.

“We’ve designed this initiative to intentionally build knowledge and provide ongoing support,” said Paul Cheung, Public Integrity CEO. “It’s a way to build local investigative capacity deliberately and cost-effectively, especially in places that never had it.”

Journalism’s watchdog role

The watchdog role of investigative journalists is crucial on the local level, where it can expose government corruption and other abuses of power, and provide accountability. Research has shown that when local newspapers close, local government hiring and spending expands, and the cost of financing goes up. What’s more, a local news vacuum leaves communities vulnerable to mis/disinformation, increased polarization, and a drop in civic engagement. 

A new approach

Up to now, most investigative journalists have learned the craft largely by osmosis, working with more experienced colleagues in newsrooms large enough to have investigative teams. But newspapers have been closing at an average rate of two per week since 2004, and many of those still open have shed their investigative teams. Community media outlets, for their part, have community trust but rarely the resources for investigation.

Public Integrity will be intentional about knowledge building. The initiative will provide continuous coaching, consultation, and access to Public Integrity’s resources to help partners improve their data and technical skills, develop data-rich local enterprise stories, and navigate the FOIA process. Public Integrity will also co-fundraise funds with partners to ensure sustainability of local investigative journalism. With additional funding, the initiative aims to offer mentorship for emerging investigative journalists. 

“Empowering local journalism is paramount in fortifying democracy. Public Integrity has devised an intentional and cost-effective approach to bolster local investigative reporting, ensuring that our investment yields the maximum impact possible,” said Courtney Bengtson, Chief Strategy Officer at The Wichita Foundation.

Strong Partnerships

In its initial stage, the local investigative initiative will support local news organizations by:

These strategies are supported by visionary funders such as James B. McClatchy Foundation, Knight Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, Wichita Foundation and others who recognize journalism is essential to build informed and engaged communities, especially on the local level, so we can have a viable, participatory democracy. 

Collaboration is in our DNA

Public Integrity, one of the nation’s oldest nonprofit newsrooms, is built on collaboration. Its founder, Charles Lewis, would routinely give away the results of investigations so other news outlets could run with them. It has worked extensively with numerous national and local newsrooms over the years. For example, Public Integrity recently helped Fresnoland’s executive director and policy editor, Danielle Bergstrom, map out a story exposing a failure by regulators to consider pollution impacts from a planned highway expansion. 

“The story is making waves, EPA is already revisiting their position on the project and a lawsuit is getting filed by resident groups over the project,” Bergstrom said. “The Center for Public Integrity has provided essential investigative editing support when we needed it, sharpening a story to have an immediate impact on policymakers in our community.”

We asked local newsrooms what they need

The initiative was carefully designed. Over the past 18 months, Public Integrity has asked local news organizations around the country what obstacles they’ve faced in launching investigations, and what issues they’ve had in partnering with national organizations. They identified three major elements as lacking, and it shaped the initiative:

  1. Technology and data expertise: Groundbreaking investigations require technology and data expertise. Many local news organizations, particularly smaller nonprofits, lack the budget to afford a full-time data team, or the expertise to manage freelance data journalists.
  2. Apprenticeship: Unlike some professions, journalists are not required to have a journalism degree to practice. Many great journalists learn their craft through years of collaboration with veteran journalists  in their newsroom. With the continuous staffing cuts, institutional knowledge is often not transferred from one generation to another.
  3. Equitable partnership between national & local news organizations: Local newsrooms don’t have equal leverage when partnering with national news organizations. Too often, national media parachute into local communities to extract their insights and relationships for their stories without proper credit, clear collaboration agreements, or shared financial resources.

This is just the beginning of the journey, and the Center for Public Integrity looks forward to partnering with more diverse local news organizations, communities, and funders to build a better, more equitable future. Public Integrity Local is committed to improving the capacity of local news organizations to hold the powerful accountable, promote transparency, and foster informed civic engagement. 

If you want to learn more about our initiative, please contact Paul Cheung at paul.cheung@publicintegrity.org

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Public Integrity’s Jin Ding named AAJA Member of the Year https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integritys-jin-ding-named-aaja-member-of-the-year/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 15:07:58 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=122140 A woman in a black dress standing in front of a blue curtain and holding a glass plaque stands next to a man in a black sport coat and T-shirt.

Center for Public Integrity Chief of Staff and Operations Jin Ding was named 2023 Member of the Year by the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) at the organization’s annual convention on Saturday. Ding’s contributions to AAJA and support of fellow journalists have had a far-reaching impact. Ding first joined AAJA in 2017 while working at […]

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A woman in a black dress standing in front of a blue curtain and holding a glass plaque stands next to a man in a black sport coat and T-shirt.Reading Time: 2 minutes

Center for Public Integrity Chief of Staff and Operations Jin Ding was named 2023 Member of the Year by the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) at the organization’s annual convention on Saturday.

Ding’s contributions to AAJA and support of fellow journalists have had a far-reaching impact.

Ding first joined AAJA in 2017 while working at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. A year later, they collaborated with Shirley Qiu, currently the news analytics & insights editor at The Washington Post, to establish AAJA’s “Women and Non-Binary Voices” affinity group, aiming to create a supportive and secure environment for women and nonbinary journalists. From 2020 to 2023, Ding co-chaired the organization’s convention programming committee, overseeing the organization of two virtual conventions and the in-person conventions held in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the past two years.

“Jin’s role as VP of Finance for AAJA is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Paul Cheung, CEO of Public Integrity and former president of AAJA from 2013 to 2016. “Beyond her official title, Jin actively engages in convention programming to benefit our members, provides essential online security training for our leadership program fellows in Asia, and takes the lead in organizing gatherings for AAPI non-profit journalists and funders, aiming to advance equity in journalism for AAPIs.”

Ding was elected to AAJA’s national board of directors as the vice president of finance in 2021. In this position, they played a crucial role in introducing essential programs for AAJA, including a mental wellness program, a fiscal sponsor program, and the AAPI nonprofit executives’ roundtable.

“What I can provide for AAJA could never match what the organization has given me. Leaders from AAJA have taught me endurance, resilience, kindness, innovation and so much more. AAJA is my chosen family, which has consistently shown up for me throughout my career,” Ding said. “My mentors, teachers, friends, mentees and colleagues from AAJA were there for me no matter when I was laughing, crying, anxious or scared. They inspire me daily to improve and catch me when I feel the lowest of lows. I’m not here for returns, because I have gotten plenty. It’s truly an honor to contribute, donate, volunteer and share my perspectives with AAJA.”

Prior to joining Public Integrity, Ding co-managed The Associated Press’s philanthropic fundraising efforts, maintaining relationships with funders and between funders and various editorial departments at the AP. They raised more than $3 million at the AP for inclusive journalism, education, climate and investigative journalism. 

Prior to AP, Ding managed a portfolio of journalism grants at The International Women’s Media Foundation, was the communications and inclusion manager at the Pulitzer Center and a research and marketing analyst for NBC Sports.

Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

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What is home? Public Integrity event will feature disabled storytellers https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/live-events/what-is-home-public-integrity-will-host-event-featuring-disabled-storytellers/ Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:35:06 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=121625 Center for Public Integrity logo

This event is called “What is Home?” It will take place on July 26 at 7 p.m. Eastern time.  The event will have:  Amy Silverman will lead the event. Amy wrote a story for the Center for Public Integrity last year. The story was about how hard it was to find safe homes for people […]

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This event is called “What is Home?” It will take place on July 26 at 7 p.m. Eastern time. 

The event will have: 

  • Stories about home from 4 people with disabilities. 
  • A panel discussion. 

Amy Silverman will lead the event. Amy wrote a story for the Center for Public Integrity last year. The story was about how hard it was to find safe homes for people with complex disabilities. This story won an award. 

Most news about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) does not include what people with IDD think. 

Amy created Wordslaw so people with IDD can tell their own stories. 

What is home? Public Integrity will host event featuring disabled storytellers Join us July 26 at 7 p.m. Eastern for a unique storytelling event and panel discussion lead by Amy Silverman, whose award-winning reporting for the Center for Public Integrity highlighted the challenges in finding appropriate homes for people with complex disabilities.

This event has stories about home. The storytellers are:

Paul Costantini: Paul is an actor at Detour Company Theatre. Detour is a theater for people with IDD and other disabilities. 

Leah Mapstead: Leah is an actor at Detour. Leah volunteers at the Phoenix Herpetological Society, which has a home for rescued reptiles. 

Hailey Simon: Hailey is a life-long storyteller who is Deaf. 

Sophie Stern: Sophie is a dancer. She goes to Glendale Community College. She is an actor at Detour. 

After the stories, there will be a panel discussion. 



Panel leader:

Amy Silverman: Amy is a journalist, teacher, and memoir writer. She is from Phoenix. Amy is the executive producer for The Show. The Show is a radio program on KJZZ, Phoenix’s NPR member station. Amy will moderate the panel. 

Panel:

Becca Monteleone: Becca is an assistant professor of disability studies. She works at the University of Toledo. 

Patricia M. Jones: Patricia is a person with a developmental disability. She is a certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. She has been part of the Independent Living Movement since the 1990s. 

Zoe Gross: Zoe is Director of Advocacy at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. 

This event is on Zoom. You must register to come. 

You will get reminders and a Zoom link once you register. 

The event will have:

  • American Sign Language interpreter
  • Closed captioning
  • Audio description

Register at Eventbrite

Read Amy’s story here

The post What is home? Public Integrity event will feature disabled storytellers appeared first on Center for Public Integrity.

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Public Integrity’s ‘The Heist’ wins Excellence in Financial Journalism award https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/public-integritys-the-heist-wins-excellence-in-financial-journalism-award/ Mon, 26 Jun 2023 16:23:09 +0000 https://publicintegrity.org/?p=121605 Center for Public Integrity logo

The Center for Public Integrity has won the 2023 Excellence in Financial Journalism Award for best audio reporting for Season 2 of its podcast, “The Heist.” “The Wealth Vortex,” produced in partnership with Transmitter Media, follows Iowa entrepreneur ReShonda Young as she tries to start a Black-owned bank to help address the racial wealth gap […]

The post Public Integrity’s ‘The Heist’ wins Excellence in Financial Journalism award appeared first on Center for Public Integrity.

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The Center for Public Integrity has won the 2023 Excellence in Financial Journalism Award for best audio reporting for Season 2 of its podcast, “The Heist.”

The Wealth Vortex,” produced in partnership with Transmitter Media, follows Iowa entrepreneur ReShonda Young as she tries to start a Black-owned bank to help address the racial wealth gap in her community, a local manifestation of a nationwide problem fueled by centuries of discrimination, institutionalized theft and violence.

The award, presented by the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, recognizes “exemplary coverage of a business, financial or economic news story using radio, podcasts, social media or other online audio formats.”

Twenty-one people across the two media organizations worked on the podcast and related elements. That team includes host and reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins from Public Integrity and producers Camille Petersen, Mitchell Johnson and Isabel Carter and executive editor Sara Nics from Transmitter Media.

Season 2 of “The Heist” has also been recognized this year with a Peabody nomination; an award from the Shaufler Prize; a Signal Award silver medal; a “Best in Business” award; a National Association of Black Journalists award nomination; and finalist honors from the Ambie Awards, Dateline Awards, WAN-IFRA North American Digital Media Awards, Online Journalism Awards and the INN Nonprofit News Awards.

Other Public Integrity work this year has been honored with the Paul Tobenkin Award, a National Headliner Award, the Sigma Award recognizing the world’s best data journalism, Mental Health America’s 2023 Media Award, Dateline Awards and the Gracie Awards

Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.

The post Public Integrity’s ‘The Heist’ wins Excellence in Financial Journalism award appeared first on Center for Public Integrity.

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