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The correspondents for CJR’s United States Project have a firsthand view of what’s happening in local journalism today: how legacy organizations and start-ups alike confront scarce funding, a shifting audience, and recalcitrant authorities; and how, despite those challenges, interesting, creative, important coverage continues to be done.
Here are seven USP posts from 2014 that we think deserve a second look:
- How an activist journalist’s commitment to a poor Chicago community led to a big FOIA win. Jamie Kalven fought in court for years to gain access to official records of police misconduct complaints. In July, he finally won the fight. “We now have the process to make the ongoing reform possible,” he told CJR. “Now it’s really up to us as journalists, as citizens, as community groups to make use of this powerful tool we have.”
- When twin disasters hit a Florida city, the local paper rallied to cover them. First came the rain, a staggering 27 inches in 30 hours. Then, the local jail exploded. Through it all, the Pensacola News Journal delivered creative accountability journalism for its community in the Florida Panhandle.
- Detroit’s Dan Gilbert and the ‘savior complex.’ The mortgage mogul is bringing much-needed private investment to downtown Detroit—but his rise should also prompt reporters to ask some hard questions. Can the local media cover a dominating figure without losing its skepticism?
- His boss helped start South Carolina’s biggest political scandal. Now, this reporter is covering it. A profile of Rick Brundrett, investigative reporter for The Nerve, who “writes with rage” but plays it straight. Pairs well with a profile of Renee Dudley, the local reporter whose coverage sparked the downfall of House Speaker Bobby Harrell.
- What law did the Toledo Blade break? The Army won’t say. When two Blade journalists were detained while photographing a military manufacturing plant, the government wouldn’t even publicly cite the law it was relying on. But we have a guess—and if we’re right, a lawsuit filed by the paper could present the first constitutional challenge to a statute that’s been on the books since World War II. (The case remains in mediation, and the government hasn’t filed an official reply yet.)
- This Kansas City reporter was laid off twice in a year—but her work has just helped change a state law. For Karen Dillon, a long-sought open-records reform was also a personal redemption story.
- What’s missing from Medicaid coverage: actual people.When the flawed Healthcare.gov site launched in fall 2013, reporters chronicled the complaints of middle-class consumers. But in coverage of Medicaid, the voices of low-income consumers often go missing.
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