The Center for Public Integrity will provide exclusive content to soon-to-be-siblings Newsweek and The Daily Beast under terms of an agreement announced Monday.
The pact kicks off with a story in the Feb. 7 issue of Newsweek about the shortfalls of digital mammography, and Newsweek and The Daily Beast will pay the Center for Public Integrity for exclusive stories going forward, marking the latter’s first pay-for-content deal in more than 20 years.
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The Miami Herald investigations and government editor Ronnie Greene joined The Center for Public Integrity as environment reporter.
Greene had been leading the investigation team and coverage of Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami, after spending a decade with the newspaper, where his accomplishments included exposés on the air cargo industry, slavery of agricultural workers, and the fate of juveniles in prison, as well as serving as the lead writer for the Herald‘s Pulitzer-finalist investigation of the Columbia space shuttle accident, and on the reporting team for its coverage of Elian Gonzalez.
Associated Press veteran Sandy Johnson joined The Center for Public Integrity as managing editor for politics and government, where she will oversee coverage of campaign finance, lobbying, politics, political ethics, and federal agencies.
Johnson had been producing state news content for AARP Bulletin. Prior to that, she spent nearly 30 years at AP, serving as its Washington bureau chief from 1998-2008.
CPI executive director William E. Buzenberg said:
Sandy knows how Washington works and where the backroom deals are made. She has sterling editorial instincts and proven leadership skills, and I’m thrilled to have her joining our expanding newsroom.
The Center for Public Integrity has a new executive editor: John Solomon, who was elevated from chief digital officer and also served as a journalist in residence last spring.
Solomon will oversee the newsroom, including staff from the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, which will merge operations with the center Jan. 1. He will also continue to helm digital operations, including the redesign of the center’s Web site and the rollout of the Treesaver digital platform.
Prior to joining the center, Solomon worked with The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and The Associated Press.
The Center for Public Integrity will team up with designer Roger Black to launch Treesaver, a digital platform that allows publishers to format long-form content — including photos, videos, audio, and Web links — for any size screen, including PCs, laptops, iPads, iPhones, Kindles, and smart phones such as Androids or BlackBerrys, with no app download required.
The Center for Public Integrity will use Treesaver to publish a major investigative report Nov. 6, and the organization said it will use the platform regularly.
Black worked with software engineer Filipe Fortes on the code and then collaborated with the Center for Public Integrity to develop a platform that would work for long-form, investigative stories.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded a $1.7 million grant to The Center for Public Integrity.
The Center for Public Integrity said it will use the funds from the grant to hire chief digital officer John Solomon, who led investigative teams at the Associated Press and The Washington Post; develop new ways to select, produce, and deliver stories; redesign its Web site; launch the Ujima Project, an open-source computer-assisted reporting tool for investigative reporters internationally; help produce at least 30 new major reporting projects over the next two years; and experiment with new fundraising models and for-profit revenue streams.
Center for Public Integrity executive director Bill Buzenberg said, “The Center is now poised to deliver its brand of investigative journalism faster and better than ever before while creating new revenue streams for additional investigative staffing and sustainability.”
Knight Foundation vice president for journalism Eric Newton added, “America needs investigative journalism, and investigative journalism needs new funding sources. The Center for Public Integrity will use digital technology to turn those needs into an opportunity to show what can be done.”
The Washington Post reports on The Washington Times this morning.
Howard Kurtz writes the Times, “long viewed as a conservative newspaper, is launching a conservative Web site.” TheConservatives.com will not include news stories but will incorporate the paper’s editorials and columns.
“Obviously our opinion pages are center-right,” executive editor John Solomon so this will be a center-right site packaged for people who enjoy that type of opinion.” The site will include video and a daily blog by Amanda Carpenter.
