The Center for Investigative Reporting has been around for a long time — but their new endeavor, California Watch, is new the California political scene. At a time when we see MSM newspapers devoting fewer and fewer resources to investigative journalism — especially in politics — California Watch represents an effort at serious watchdog journalism not by the media, but by a non-profit foundation. A longtime friend of this website publisher is the Editorial Director of California Watch — Mark Katches. I met Mark when he used to work at the Orange County Register. It is also noteworthy that another longtime FR friend, Bob Salladay (formerly an ace reporter and blogger with the Los Angeles Times) is onboard advising this endeavor.
I’m quite certain that everyone at California Watch would agree with my observation that this is no right-of-center endeavor. Hardly. That said, shining the light into the farthest, darkest corners of state government is an endeavor that should be applauded, even if many of those shining the flashlights voted for President Obama. I reached out to Mark and asked him if he would pen an "introduction" of sorts of California Watch for FR readers. After you read his column, you can check out CW’s first piece — a look at how big bucks gets funneled through major party County Central Committees…
The dot.org boom may be the media story of 2009.New nonprofit news centers are popping up all over the country – several in California. They all hope to fill a big, vast hole left by traditional news outlets that are shedding staff.
Into that void comes California Watch, with offices in the Bay Area and Sacramento. We’ve built in just a few short months the largest investigative team operating in the state.
California Watch is a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting – the longest running nonprofit journalism center in the United States. It was formed 32 years ago and remains a strong, vibrant operation with a national and international reputation.
The focus at California Watch is laid out clearly in our name. We will aggressively pursue watchdog stories that resonate from Eureka to San Ysidro – stories that impact residents in big cities and rural communities alike.
Our core mission will be to dig deeper into stories with statewide impact and significance – investigative journalism that makes a difference and changes lives.
Our priority coverage areas include health and welfare, K-12 schools, higher education, and the intersection of money and politics.
We’ve hired seven investigative reporters, two editors and two multimedia producers – chosen from some 700 applicants. And we’re not done hiring.
In the spring, we will bring on two more investigative reporters – one focused on the environment and one focused on public safety.
Although some new nonprofit newsrooms have positioned themselves as direct competitors with newspapers. We see our mission differently.
We hope to provide our content to news organizations that are struggling to afford investigative journalism. Some newsrooms in California are ramping up their watchdog reporting – understanding that it is one of the most important things any newsroom can do.
But it is increasingly tougher for newsrooms to go after these stories when with the same vigor as when their staffs were three times larger.
Our first story about questionable homeland security grants ran on the front pages of more than two dozen newspapers, including the Orange County Register, the Sacramento Bee and the San Jose Mercury News.
We produced the story at three different lengths to make it work for newspapers of all sizes and shapes. And we provided custom-edits for several newspapers – highlighting local content to increase the relevance to their readership.
Our second story on the erosion of class-size reduction – the state’s most expensive education reform – was distributed to more than a dozen newspapers and marked our first collaboration with KQED public radio. The story also was translated into Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese and distributed to hundreds of ethnic media outlets.
We’ve met with top editors and managing editors of several of the state’s largest news operations. Many have told us they want to work with us.
Unlike some nonprofit news centers, we’re not planning to give our stories away. There is great value in what we produce and we are working hard to develop a new business model that can help sustain California Watch for years to come.
For now, we’re focused on the journalism – investigative and enterprise journalism that meets the highest standards. Something the people of California can’t do without.