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Send us what you're proud of, and we'll share itSHOWCASEThere may be smaller staffs and a reduced newshole but great watchdog reporting is still being done at news organizations large and small, and we’d like the world to know it. By Barry Sussman and Dan Froomkin Tell us about your watchdog stories, and we’ll let everyone else know about them, too. Last month the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, after a six-month investigation, reported that thousands of white collar criminals aren’t being prosecuted because some 2,400 FBI agents have been assigned to counter-terrorism squads and not replaced. The cost, the paper said, is potentially billions of dollars in fraud and theft losses and a trail of frustrated victims. It was an excellent reporting job—a perfect illustration of journalistic best practices or, as we refer to them on this site, ‘Showcase’ items. The next day, we posted the main story and did a sidebar interview with Paul Shukovsky, one of the reporters. Some have come to think that regional news organizations aren’t up to this kind of time-consuming, important reporting any more. Steady decreases in staff and newshole have taken a major toll in news coverage and there’s a big dent where a lot of watchdog work used to be. That’s just a fact. But good watchdog reporting hasn’t disappeared. This year’s list of Pulitzers includes about a dozen regional or smaller papers as winners or finalists. Reporters are doing excellent work—as good as any ever did. There may not be as much as we’d like because of the cuts but there is still a good bit. We’d like to show off some of the best watchdog reporting as a tribute to the reporters and editors and news organizations doing it, and as encouragement to others. Some stories can be written or replicated in many parts of the country; the Post-Intelligencer articles are a good example of that. So get in touch. We’ll post your stories and let you tell how and why you went about doing them, and whether there’s been any impact. You may want to write something up, or we may interview the main reporters or editors involved. This will be a continuing feature at NiemanWatchdog. It’s an opportunity to share your best efforts with colleagues everywhere. Send a note to editors@niemanwatchdog.org, or to one of us – bsussman@niemanwatchdog.org or froomkin@niemanwatchdog.org, and we’ll reply soon.
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