Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting

The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) is an independent and nonpartisan, nonprofit digital newsroom and multi-media platform website. Its arrival was welcomed by the board of the Louisville Courier-Journal which wrote that its voice was, "...augmenting those of traditional media. When it comes to participating in a democracy, the more fact-based journalism, the better." [1] It is focused on watchdog journalism related to the U.S. state of Kentucky. Launched in 2013, the Center is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Brendan McCarthy, a TV and print journalist who has won a George Polk Award, a regional Emmy and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009, was hired as its Managing Editor.

History and structure

The publication is funded by its parent non-profit corporation, reporting to the board of Kentucky Public Radio (KyPR) that includes members recruited from the University of Louisville, the Louisville Metro government, and the community at-large.[2] Its meetings are open to the public. KyPR's origins began with a 10 watt FM radio station owned the Louisville Free Public Library, that began broadcasting in 1950. KPR currently does business as Louisville Public Media, a local non-profit organization operating three National Public Radio (NPR) member stations: News and talk WFPL, classical WUOL-FM, and adult album alternative WFPK. KyCIR incorporated in 2013. Its independence is assured by a firewall between it and funding individuals and organizations and it publishes its list of donors annually. It is supported almost entirely by members, who contribute 59% of all its revenues, as well as another 31% from local philanthropists and organizations, and receives a small amount of grants and support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In 2017, besides McCarthy, KyCIR's staff included R.G. Dunlop, who wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal for 35 years and was on two Polk award-winning teams. He was a Pulitzer finalist three times. Kate Howard has won a National Investigative Reporter award, as well as many local and state awards. Alexandra Kanik is a metrics analyst specialist for both KyPR and KyCIR and was named in 2017 as a Livingston Awards for Young Journalists finalist by the contest sponsoring, University of Michigan. Also in 2017, Eleanor Klibanoff joined the team after working for covering Pennsylvania Rust Belt stories for Keystone Crossroads, as a Kroc Fellow at National Public Radio, and reporting as a Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting grantee focusing on maternal health care in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Its reporting has been featured on regional radio, television and publications such as the Courier Journal, the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Cincinnati Enquirer, and nationally by the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.[3]

The organization has conducted intensive research and enterprise "long form" reporting on issues important to the Kentucky public.

It also partnered with local, state and national media outlets for groundbreaking investigative projects and experimented with novel ways to tell stories. It is one of Kentucky’s leading advocates for transparency in government and has fought for access to records on the public’s behalf.

Coverage

In a testament to its independence, it has published stories critical of the University of Louisville including regarding accounting problems and misspending by the University's foundation.[4]

In recognition for reporting it did in 2015, the Center won two coveted Green Eyeshades first-place awards, a contest administered by the Society of Professional Journalists that acknowledges the work of journalists in the Southeast U.S. The stories chronicled a patronage system that rewards jailers who actually don't have existing jails, and widespread health problems in county jails.[5][6][7] In another story which received regional recognition, the KyCIR reported on the banishment of a mentally ill man from Carrollton, Kentucky by the sheriff, in violation of court orders, sending him to Florida.[8]

In December 2017, the KyCIR released the results of an explosive, seven month, bi-state investigation of an evangelical minister and state representative, Dan Johnson, who had been accused of molestation of a 17-year-old family friend. The story, the product of over 100 interviews and reviews of over 1,000 documents, detailed Johnson's long history of arson, insurance fraud, illegal alcohol sales and preposterous claims that included raising of the dead and tales of claimed heroism at the Twin Towers. The next day, the pastor denied everything, blaming his problems on "NPR" which he said was out to get him. A day after that he killed himself, catapulting the Center into the national limelight. The public's appreciative response included a rapid swelling of the Center's membership.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ Fact-based journalism, The Courier-Journal, March 28, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  2. ↑ About, March 15, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  3. ↑ ICIJ, NPR, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting win IRE honors, and other awards, Current, April Simpson, April 5, 2017.
  4. ↑ Costs balloon in effort to fix U of L, but officials not asking for receipts, Lexington Herald-Leader, Kate Howard, August 4, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  5. ↑ Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting wins top regional journalism awards, WFPL, June 6, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  6. ↑ State silent amid faults jail health system, Courier-Journal, R.G. Dunlop, December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ Investigate deaths, reform county jails, Lexington Herald-Leader, July 30, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  8. ↑ Justice kicked out of the Commonwealth, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, R.G. Dunlop, June 8, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  9. ↑ Report on Kentucky legislator spotlights nonprofits' role, Chicago Tribune (AP), Dan Sewell, December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  10. ↑ Dunlop, R. G.; Ryan, Jacob. "The Pope's Long Con". Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
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