Belleville News-Democrat

The Belleville News-Democrat is a 161-year-old news organization that covers Southwestern Illinois, including the communities east of St. Louis and across the Mississippi River, in an area known as the metro-east. Our coverage area is an eclectic mix of mid-sized and smaller towns, bedroom communities and farm country. Many residents commute to St. Louis for work everyday. We are also home to Scott Air Force Base, with its 13,000 military and civilian workers.

Akron Beacon Journal

The Akron Beacon Journal provides comprehensive news coverage primarily for Summit and Stark counties in post-industrial Northeast Ohio. We frequently publish deep-dive enterprise reports on a wide variety of topics. These newsroom also leads the joint news efforts of GateHouse Media in Northeast Ohio, which includes numerous other daily media sites and weekly publications. Overall, GateHouse serves 10 counties in Northeast Ohio and a population of 1.2 million residents. We also work closely with GateHouse’s Columbus Dispatch for Statehouse and regional news coverage.

CALmatters

About the News Organization: CALmatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. Environmental regulation, education, health care, criminal justice, economic inequality — the debates on these issues and others have a profound impact on the lives of 38 million Californians and beyond. Our team of experienced journalists, with the time and resources to dig deep, is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives. Over the past year CALmatters set out to continue building a nonprofit platform that would reach a large and influential audience with information and tools that hold politicians accountable and empower Californians to participate meaningfully in their democracy.

The Charlotte Observer

The Charlotte Observer is a 132-year-old news organization intensely focused on accountability reporting in south-central North Carolina region and on statewide issues that affect readers from the coast to the mountains. The Charlotte Observer works closely with sister McClatchy papers in the Carolinas to identify and report with impact on the ways that government decisions – or lack of decisions – impact the lives of North Carolinians. As the largest newspaper in the state, The Charlotte Observer frequently challenges denial or closure of public records and seeks relationships with other media organizations to press for disclosure of public information and transparency of government actions. The news organization’s coverage is heavily tilted toward Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, with a focus on watchdog reporting, open records and meetings, deeper storytelling and enterprise writing.