ProPublica Local Reporting Network

ProPublica Local Reporting Network
Name	ProPublica Local Reporting Network
Type	Nonprofit journalism initiative
Founded	2018
Founder	ProPublica
Headquarters	New York City
Key people	Richard T. Kim, Caroline Chen, Mark Lee, Robin Stein
Area served	United States

ProPublica Local Reporting Network is an initiative by ProPublica to support investigative journalism through grants, collaborations, and training for regional and local newsrooms. The Network aims to expand investigative capacity in cities and states by connecting resources from national journalism organizations with reporters at newspapers, television stations, radio stations, and digital outlets. Its work intersects with major reporting coalitions, nonprofit funders, journalism schools, and civic institutions to pursue accountability reporting on topics such as public safety, health care, housing, and elections.

Overview

The Network operates as a grants and collaboration program nested within ProPublica, partnering with outlets across the United States such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Texas Tribune, The Boston Globe, and The Miami Herald while also engaging smaller organizations like The Marshall Project, El Nuevo Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, and San Francisco Chronicle. It advances investigative projects akin to collaborations between The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press, Reuters, and NPR by supporting local reporting in markets served by outlets such as The Seattle Times, The Arizona Republic, The Indianapolis Star, The Star Tribune, and The Oregonian. By aligning with journalism funders including The Knight Foundation, The Pulitzer Prize Board, The Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and The Rockefeller Foundation, the Network amplifies stories that intersect with institutions like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Justice, Federal Reserve, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Institutes of Health.

History and founding

The initiative was announced amid a wave of nonprofit journalism growth alongside projects such as Center for Investigative Reporting, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and The Marshall Project and drew on models from collaborations like the Pandora Papers and Panama Papers investigations. Early leadership referenced connections to reporters and editors from The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, ProPublica Illinois, ProPublica Texas, and university programs at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The founding phase involved coordination with civic partners such as Human Rights Watch, ACLU, National Journal, and advocacy organizations including Common Cause and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Structure and funding

The Network's governance includes program directors, editors, and liaisons coordinating with partner newsrooms and foundations. Funding sources have included philanthropic entities like The Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and corporate philanthropic arms associated with Gannett, Nexstar Media Group, and legacy outlets such as McClatchy. Administrative structures reference compliance with nonprofit standards akin to 501(c)(3) organizations and reporting practices used by Charity Navigator and GuideStar. The Network provides grants, staffing support, and data tools comparable to resources offered by Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Center for Public Integrity, and partnerships with labs at MIT Media Lab and Harvard Kennedy School.

Major projects and investigations

Projects have addressed local corruption, public health crises, housing crises, policing, and electoral administration. Investigations have paralleled national efforts such as those by The New York Times on opioid epidemic coverage, The Washington Post on policing reviews, and cross-border reporting like the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists exposes. Specific topics included reporting on hospital safety linked to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services oversight, affordable housing tied to municipal zoning boards and Department of Housing and Urban Development, and local election administration connected to Federal Election Commission filings. Collaborations have produced data-driven stories using tools and methodologies similar to those used in projects by ProPublica Data Store, The Marshall Project's investigations, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and NPR's statehouse reporting.

Partnerships with local newsrooms

The Network's model emphasizes co-publishing and capacity-building with partner newsrooms such as McClatchy, Tribune Publishing, Hearst Communications, NPR member stations, PBS member stations, The Baltimore Sun, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Cincinnati Enquirer, The Tampa Bay Times, and community outlets including CityLab, Vox Media, Grist, The Texas Tribune, The Lens (New Orleans), and bilingual outlets serving communities like Univision and El Diario. Training programs involve collaborations with journalism schools at Columbia University, Northwestern University, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and nonprofit training organizations like Investigative Reporters and Editors and Society of Professional Journalists.

Impact and reception

Coverage supported by the Network has led to policy inquiries, enforcement actions, and public debates involving institutions such as state attorneys general offices, city councils, state legislatures, and federal agencies like Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Transportation. Reception among media critics, academic analysts at Pew Research Center, and journalism scholars at Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Foundation, and USC Annenberg has been mixed, with praise for expanding investigative reach and critiques about sustainability, local newsroom independence, and philanthropic influence drawn from cases examined by Columbia Journalism Review and reporting by The New Yorker.

Awards and recognition

Work published through the Network has been cited in awards and honors alongside those conferred by the Pulitzer Prize, Peabody Awards, National Magazine Awards, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Awards, and regional journalism competitions administered by entities like the Online News Association and Investigative Reporters and Editors awards. Individual journalists affiliated with the Network have been finalists and winners for prizes administered by Pulitzer Prize Board, received fellowships from Knight Fellowship programs, Nieman Fellowships at Harvard, and recognition from foundations such as MacArthur Fellows Program and Rockefeller Foundation awards.

Category:Nonprofit journalism organizations