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Editorial Standards Page
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
The Center is a member of the Trust Project, a global network of news organizations that has developed transparency standards to help news readers assess the quality and credibility of journalism.
The Center is also a member The Global Investigative Journalism Network, an international network of nonprofit organizations founded to support, promote and produce investigative journalism.
The Center is also a founding member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a group of nonprofit journalism organizations that conduct investigative reporting in the public interest.
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Ethics Policy
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization that strives to uphold high standards of fairness and accuracy.
The Center’s ethics standards include the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, adopted in 1996 and endorsed by thousands of journalists around the world. That code is reprinted below, with permission. WCIJ’s Board of Directors have also adopted a conflict of interest policy and a diversity statement, which appear after the SPJ Code of Ethics.
Additional standards guiding the Center’s operations include:
- The Center’s Policy on Financial Support, which requires that the Center’s news coverage be independent of donors and that all providers of revenue will be publicly identified.
- Membership standards of the Institute for Nonprofit News (originally Investigative News Network), the nation’s first consortium of nonprofit investigative news organizations. The Center is a founding member of INN and the standards, developed with assistance of the Center’s leaders, require members to disclose information about donors and financial practices, produce nonpartisan investigative journalism, and apply high journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.
Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Preamble
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.
Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Journalists should:
- Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
- Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
- Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
- Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
- Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
- Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
- Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
- Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story.
- Never plagiarize.
- Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
- Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
- Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
- Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
- Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
- Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
- Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
- Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.
Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
Journalists should:
- Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
- Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
- Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
- Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
- Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
- Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
- Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
- Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.
Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.
Journalists should:
- Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
- Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
- Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
- Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
- Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
- Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
- Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.
Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.
Journalists should:
- Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
- Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
- Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
- Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
- Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.
More information about SPJ and its Code of Ethics is available at www.spj.org.
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Conflict of Interest Policy
The following Financial Conflict of Interest Policy (“Conflict of Interest Policy”) is an effort (i) to ensure that the deliberations and decisions of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (“WCIJ”) are made solely in the interest of promoting the quality of journalism in the state of Wisconsin, and (ii) to protect the interests of WCIJ when it considers any transaction, contract, or arrangement that might benefit or be perceived to benefit the private interest of a person affiliated with WCIJ (each, a “WCIJ Representative”). As used in this Conflict of Interest Policy, a WCIJ Representative includes any director, advisory board member, financial advisor, legal counsel or employee.
- Duty to WCIJ. Each WCIJ Representative owes a duty to WCIJ to advance WCIJ’s legitimate interests when the opportunity to do so arises. Each WCIJ Representative must give undivided allegiance when making decisions affecting the organization. Similarly, WCIJ Representatives must be faithful to WCIJ’s non-profit mission and are not permitted to act in a way that is inconsistent with the central goals of the organization and its non-profit status.
- Gifts. No WCIJ Representative shall personally accept gifts or favors that could compromise his or her loyalty to WCIJ. Any gifts or benefits personally accepted from a party having a material interest in the outcome of WCIJ or its employees by a WCIJ Representative individually should be merely incidental to his or her role as a WCIJ Representative and should not be of substantial value. Any gift with a value of $250 or more, or any gifts with a cumulative value in excess of $250 received by a WCIJ Representative in any twelve-month period from a single source, shall be considered substantial. Cash payments may not be accepted, and no gifts should be accepted if there are strings attached. For example, no WCIJ Representative may accept gifts if he or she knows that such gifts are being given to solicit his or her support of or opposition to the outcome or content of any WCIJ publication.
- Personal Loans. WCIJ may not loan to, or guarantee the personal obligations of any WCIJ Representative.
- Conflicts of Interest. The following are examples of conflicts of interest which must be promptly disclosed to the WCIJ Board of Directors pursuant to Section 4 below by any WCIJ Representative with knowledge of such conflict of interest:
- (a) any real or apparent conflict of interest between a donor or the subject of a WCIJ publication or report and a WCIJ Representative;
- (b) a WCIJ Representative’s ownership of an equity interest in a person or entity that is or will be the subject of a WCIJ publication or report; and
- (c) failure to disclose to WCIJ all relationships between the subject of any WCIJ publication or report and any WCIJ Representative or close relatives of the WCIJ Representative.
- Conflict Procedure:
(a) If a WCIJ Representative or party related to a WCIJ Representative has an interest in any contract, action or transaction to be entered into with WCIJ, a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest exists. Any WCIJ Representative having knowledge that such a conflict of interest exists or may exist (an “Interested WCIJ Representative”) will so advise the Board of Directors promptly. An Interested WCIJ Representative will include in the notice the material facts as to the relationship or interest of the Interested WCIJ Representative in the entity proposing to enter into a contract, action or transaction with WCIJ.
(b) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Board of Directors may authorize any committee appointed pursuant to the WCIJ by-laws (a “Committee”) to act in lieu of the Board of Directors in determining whether an action, contract or transaction is fair to WCIJ as of the time it is authorized or approved by the Committee.
(c) At any time that a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest is identified, the Chair of the Board or a Chair of the applicable Committee will ensure that such conflict of interest is placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable. The notice of such meeting of the Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable, will include, to the extent available when the notice is sent, a description of the conflict of interest matter to be discussed. By notice before the meeting or at the meeting, the directors on the board or the Committee, as applicable, will be advised that a vote will be taken at the meeting and that, in order to authorize the relevant contract, action or transaction, an affirmative vote of a majority of disinterested directors present at the meeting at which a quorum is present will be required and will be sufficient, even though the disinterested directors constitute less than a quorum of the Board of Directors or the Committee.
(d) Reasonable effort will be made to cause the material facts concerning the relationships between the individuals and WCIJ which create the conflict to be delivered to and shared with the members of the Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable, prior to the meeting to enable the directors to arrive at the meeting prepared to discuss the issue. In the event it is not practicable to deliver the information prior to the meeting, it will be delivered to the directors at the meeting, and the directors can act upon the matter with the same authority as if notice had been given prior to the meeting.
(e) The Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable, will invite all parties to the conflict of interest to attend the meeting, to make presentations and to be prepared to answer questions, if necessary. The Board or Directors or the Committee, as applicable, will also invite outside experts if necessary.
(f) At the meeting, providing a quorum is present, the conflict will be discussed to ensure that the directors present are aware of the issues and the factors involved. The interested directors may be counted for purposes of a quorum, even though they may not take part in any vote on the issues.
(g) The Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable, must decide, in good faith, reasonably justified by the material facts, whether the action, contract or transaction would be in the best interest of WCIJ and fair to WCIJ as of the time it is authorized or approved.
(h) All interested directors must abstain from voting and, if necessary, leave the room when the vote is taken.
(i) The Board of Directors or the Committee, as applicable, will maintain a written account of all that transpires at the meeting and incorporate such account into the minutes of the meeting and disseminate it to the full Board of Directors. Such minutes will be presented for approval at the next meeting of the Board of Directors and maintained in the corporate record book.
(j) To the extent that the conflict of interest is continuing and the contract, action or transaction goes beyond one (1) year, the foregoing notice and discussion and vote will be repeated on an annual basis.
Diversity Statement
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism embraces diversity and inclusiveness in its journalism, training activities, hiring practices and workplace operations. The Center recognizes that its mission and society in general are strengthened by respecting individuals’ cultural traditions, beliefs and viewpoints. The Center further acknowledges that for its journalism, and our democracy, to attain their highest potential, a robust supply of reliable information about key issues must be accessible to all.
Inclusiveness is at the heart of thinking and acting as journalists. Our guiding principles: Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Explore solutions. The complex issues we face as a society require respect for different viewpoints. Race, class, generation, gender and geography all affect point of view. Reflecting these differences in our reporting leads to better, more-nuanced stories and a better-informed community.
Part of our commitment to diversity means being transparent about our own staff. Our latest demographic survey data may be found here. Information about the composition of the Center’s workforce in past years may be found in its responses to the American Society of News Editors Newsroom Employment Diversity Survey from 2017 and 2018. ASNE, now the News Leaders Association, paused data collection in 2020 to redesign the survey.
The Center recognizes that Wisconsin law bars employers from discrimination on the basis of:
Age, Ancestry, Arrest Record, Color, Conviction Record, Creed, Disability, Genetic Testing, Honesty Testing, Marital Status, Military Service, National Origin, Pregnancy or Childbirth, Race, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours. Employees may not be harassed in the workplace based on their protected status nor retaliated against for filing a complaint, for assisting with a complaint, or for opposing discrimination in the workplace.
Approved Sept. 8, 2010, updated May 8, 2018, by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Board of Directors
Our anti-racism stand and a pledge of action
On August 5, 2020, we published a statement representing the views of the entire Wisconsin Watch staff, including a pledge of action developed through weeks of discussion, research and reflection. The statement includes the following commitment.
We pledge to:
— Investigate and expose the histories and disparate impacts of systems on the lives of people of color.
— Explore solutions to problems not just through the perspectives of experts traditionally sought out by journalists, but also through the lived experiences of people who are finding ways to navigate existing societal systems.
— Embrace anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusiveness in all of our journalism, and in our own newsroom, including collaborative efforts, the framing of news coverage and selection of news sources, plus in our training activities, hiring and retention practices, and workplace operations.
— Listen to your story ideas and welcome your contributions to our opinion and letters to the editors pages as forums for all voices.
Read the full statement and pledge of action here.
Related content:
Our DEI Board Task Force and Staff Committee
Wisconsin Watch is now capitalizing the ‘B’ in Black. Here’s why.
Diversity Staffing Report
Reading Time: 3 minutesRelated content:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative JournalismDEI Board Task Force and Staff Committee
Our anti-racism stand and a pledge of action
Wisconsin Watch is now capitalizing the ‘B’ in Black. Here’s why.
Demographic breakdown by gender and race
Jan. 13, 2021
Corrections Policy
Reading Time: 3 minutesMistakes happen.
We’ve developed fact-checking protocols here at the Center. But when an error slips by us, the best thing we can do to keep our readers’ trust is own up to it.
Our policy is to correct stories promptly and openly. If we find an error, we will fix the story and note on the page what has been corrected.
As most news outlets do, we distinguish between corrections (for mistakes) and clarifications (for vague or misleading content).
If you think we’ve made a mistake in a story, tell us!
Ownership Structure, Funding
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that is primarily funded through grants from foundations and donations from individuals and corporations. Additional revenue is obtained through sponsorships of its events and activities, and from earned income — payments for providing services such as fact-checking, collaborating with students or producing investigative journalism projects.
More than 850 individuals, foundations, news organizations and other groups have contributed financially to the Center since its launch in 2009.
As a matter of policy, funders exercise no control over the Center’s editorial decisions, and all funders are publicly identified.
The Center’s first major grant, a gift of $100,000 in general support, was awarded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in 2009.
The Oklahoma-based foundation continued to support the Center with grants of $100,000 in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015; $75,000 in 2016; $50,000 in 2017 and 2018.
In 2010, the Center received a two-year $75,000 matching grant from Challenge Fund for Journalism VI, a joint program of the Ford Foundation in New York, the McCormick Foundation in Illinois and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The Center successfully completed a campaign to raise those matching funds in 2011.
The Foundation to Promote Open Society, which works in cooperation with the Open Society Foundations in New York City, awarded the Center general support totaling $50,000 in 2009, $100,000 in 2010 (to be spread over two years), $35,000 in 2011, $350,000 in 2012 (to be spread over two years), $350,000 in 2014 (over two years) and $200,000 in 2016.
In 2011, the Center announced a partnership with MAPLight.org to investigate the influence of money in Wisconsin state politics and policymaking. The project was supported by the Open Society Institute. The Center received about $25,000 for this project in 2011 and a similar amount in the first half of 2012.
In 2013, The Joyce Foundation became a major supporter of the Center. The Chicago-based foundation awarded a $100,000 grant that was split by the Center and MinnPost, a nonprofit news organization, to support in-depth coverage of key issues in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The grant funded coverage of political reform, environmental protection and gun violence issues in Wisconsin, as well as political reform in Minnesota. In 2014, Joyce awarded the Center $50,000 to support coverage of democracy, the environment and gun violence prevention. That was followed by a two-year grant in 2016, awarding $50,000 annually to support coverage of democracy, the environment and gun violence prevention. In 2018, The Joyce Foundation awarded the Center a two-year grant of $100,000 a year. In 2020, the foundation awarded the Center a two-year general support grant of $150,000 a year.
The Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times in Madison, is a major supporter of the Center. The foundation made contributions to WCIJ in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and in 2013, significantly increased its support to $20,000 — the largest single contribution received from a Wisconsin donor. Evjue repeated its $20,000 support in 2014 and 2015, and increased its giving to $30,000 in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. It contributed $10,000 in 2020.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, became a major donor in 2014 with a $75,000 general operating grant (spread over two years). In December 2016, the foundation designated the Center as one of 57 nonprofit news organizations eligible for up to $25,000 in matching funds through its NewsMatch program. As 2017 began, the Center successfully completed the match, thanks to 168 donors.
At the end of 2017, the Center was awarded $28,000 from NewsMatch, now funded by an expanded number of donors, for meeting the program’s fundraising goals, and in 2018, the Center was awarded $27,000 from NewsMatch. The Center successfully attained its 2019 NewsMatch goal and also was selected to receive an additional $10,000 from REI Co-op.
In 2014, the Center and UW-Madison journalism school obtained a $35,000 grant that was among the inaugural awards at 12 universities under the Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education, created to encourage experimentation in ways to provide news and information. The competitive program was managed by the Online News Association and funded by the Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund and the Rita Allen Foundation.
In 2015, the Vital Projects Fund, based in New York City, became a major supporter, contributing $25,000 to support the Center’s coverage of criminal justice issues. It provided $20,000 in 2016, $15,000 in 2017 and $20,000 in 2019.
The Reva & David Logan Foundation, based in Chicago, became a major supporter of the Center in 2017 with a general support grant of $100,000. The foundation awarded the Center $125,000 grants in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, the foundation awarded the Center a three-year grant of $150,000 a year.
The Center also is grateful for support it received from the Peters Family Foundation in Utah in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019; the Wisconsin State Journal in 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014; and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and its related foundation, which provided $10,000 in 2014 and 2015, $14,000 in 2016, $20,000 in 2017, and $5,000 in 2019 and 2020.
In 2016, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication received a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment to establish a class in fact-checking and to create The Observatory website to publish fact-checked reports and information about fact-checking. The Center, in turn, received a contract of $15,000 in the first year and $10,000 in the second to develop and launch the website and assist in fact-checking, editing and distribution of content. The Center is training students and raising the supply of high-quality verified journalism.
In 2017, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication received a three-year grant totaling $120,000 from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment to collaborate with the Center on production of investigative reports by students that are published on the Center’s website and distributed to media partners across the state and nation. The Center was paid through a contract.
In 2019, Houston philanthropists Laura and John Arnold, founders of Arnold Ventures, became major supporters of the Center, with a $100,000 gift of general operating support. They also provided a gift of $100,000 in 2020.
In 2019, the Lau and Bea Christensen Charitable Foundation donated $10,000 to support the Center.
In 2019, Mary and Ken Rouse donated $50,000 to the Center from the estate of their friend, Roger “Whitey” Bruesewitz.
In 2019, Susan Troller Cosgrove and her husband, Howard Cosgrove, established a fund in memory of her mother, Dorothy Mae Johnson Troller, a 1949 UW-Madison journalism graduate, to support the work of journalism students at the Center. They are contributing $10,000 a year in the first phase of the fund.
In 2019, the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation awarded the Center a gift of $35,000 a year for three years to support fact-checking and other efforts to strengthen the integrity of journalism.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman became a major supporter of the Center in 2019 with a $100,000 gift of general operating support.
Members of the Center’s Board of Directors, who serve as volunteers, are financial supporters of the organization.
The Center has received revenue for producing reports and conducting interviews through arrangements with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.; WBEZ Public Media in Chicago; American University’s J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism; Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting; Sarah Colt Productions in New York City; HuffPost; and NPR.
In 2017, the Center launched the Watchdog Club to enrich members’ experience with investigative journalism, and to involve these loyal members in efforts to transform the Center into a larger, more financially resilient organization. These members donate $1,000 or more a year per household.
In 2019, the Center created the Leadership Circle, a group of Watchdog Club members taking a leadership role in sustaining investigative reporting and the training of investigative journalists. These members donated $5,000 or more.
In 2019 and 2020, the Center received subsidies (50% in year one, 33% in year two) to support the salary of a Report for America journalist who is producing an investigative podcast on police and prosecutorial misconduct in Wisconsin.
In 2019 and 2020, the Center received a total of $234,000 from the Google News Initiative to support the launch of News414, a collaborative project of the Center, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and Outlier Media. News414 engages residents of underserved Milwaukee neighborhoods, responds to information requests via text message, investigates residents’ most pressing needs and delivers accountability journalism.
In 2019 and 2020, the Center received $100,000 grants from the Facebook Membership Accelerator, to support its development of a membership program and improvements to its digital infrastructure. The Lenfest Institute collaborated in the grantmaking.
In 2020, the Center received $8,500 from the Walton Family Foundation for its role in a collaborative reporting project on rural education during the pandemic. Six other newsrooms participated in the project, with assistance from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
In 2020, the Center received separate $5,000 payments from the Google News Initiative and the Facebook Journalism Project to support its reporting on the pandemic.
In 2020, the Center received a $93,581 forgivable loan under the federal Paycheck Protection Program to support its operations through the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
In 2020, the Center received $20,000 from First Draft to support the work of Howard Hardee, one of First Draft’s fellows reporting on misinformation and disinformation in the 2020 election.
In 2020, Craig Newmark Philanthropies provided a $70,000 grant to the Center for its role in the Election Integrity Project to safeguard the voices of voters. The Center collaborated with the UW-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, which also received grant money, to produce tools for the public and journalists to discern what’s credible, and what’s not.
In 2020, ProPublica’s Electionland project provided a 25% subsidy of a Center reporter’s salary to support coverage of voting issues.
In 2020, the Center received $51,000 from Votebeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering local election administration and voting in eight states, created by Chalkbeat. The Center works with two reporters and an editor on stories focusing on Wisconsin elections and voting.
In 2021, the Center started the Legacy Society, supporters who have included the Center in their estate plans, including wills, trusts, retirement plan distributions, and life insurance to ensure financial stability and a strong future for the Center.
Our financial supporters
(Updated November 2020)
| A to Z Produce and Bakery |
| Lisa Aarli and Gail Owens |
| Helen Aarli |
| Abbotsford Tribune Phonograph |
| Linda and James Adams |
| Jason Alcorn |
| Amazon Smile |
| Judy Amery-Ryland |
| Diane Ames |
| Noel Anderson |
| Elizabeth Andre |
| Margaret Andrietsch |
| Mary Anglim |
| Lynn and Dr. Tom Ansfield |
| Charles Anstett |
| David Antonioni |
| Susan Applegate |
| Appleton Post-Crescent Community Fund |
| Claudia Apuzzo |
| Laura and John Arnold |
| Michael Arnold |
| Joan Arnold |
| Alexandra Arriaga |
| Alicia Artus |
| Jeff Ash |
| Russell Attoe |
| Jan Axelson |
| Elizabeth Backes |
| Adam Balin and Karin Mahony |
| Bunny Balk |
| Ellen Balthazor |
| Robbi Bannen |
| Daniel Barr |
| Jeffrey Bartelll |
| Eileen Bartos |
| Bastian Family Foundation |
| Frank W. Bastian |
| Janet Battista |
| Chuck Bauer and Charles Beckwith |
| Mary Kay Baum |
| Herman Baumann and Kay Schwichtenberg |
| Keith and Juli Baumgartner |
| Eileen Beamish |
| Sheridan Bearheart |
| Steven Beatty |
| Beaver Dam Daily Citizen |
| Joseph and Josefina Beck |
| Barbara Beck |
| Madeleine Behr |
| Ann Behrmann |
| Barbara Bend |
| Daniel Bennett |
| Tracy Benton |
| Jacob Berchem |
| Laura Berger |
| Eyoel Berhane |
| Bill Berry |
| Stephen Berry |
| Paul Bickford |
| Tom and Katherine Bier |
| Kathy Bissen |
| Lynn Bjorkman |
| Kayla Blado |
| Bev Blietz |
| Karen Blofeld |
| Blue Valley Farms |
| Matthew Boben |
| Walt Bogdanich |
| Teri Boggess |
| Rod Bohn |
| Jane Boland |
| Peter Bonnes |
| Eric Booth |
| Alan Borsuk |
| Deanna Bowden |
| Nicholas Boyle |
| Maureen Brady |
| Nancy Bralick |
| Daniel Brand |
| Sirianna Brand |
| Kathleen Brazaitis |
| Elizabeth Brenner and Steve Ostrofsky |
| Malcolm and Penny Brett |
| Elizabeth Brixey |
| Dylan Brogan |
| Aimee and Karl Broman |
| Craig Brooks |
| Sandra Kay and James Brooks |
| Wesley Brooks |
| Suzanne Brooks |
| Sue Brouillette |
| Martha Brown |
| Joanne Brown |
| Kelly Bryant |
| Roger Buffett |
| Roland Buhler |
| Brian and Margaret Bull |
| Jay Bullock |
| Tucker Burch |
| Jim and Catherine Burgess |
| Elaine Burke |
| Mary Burke |
| Jane Burns |
| Brad Burrill |
| Jay Burseth |
| Paul Burton |
| Helen Bush |
| Michael Cain |
| John Calabrese |
| Stephen Caldwell |
| Linda and Edward Calhan |
| Tom and Patti Cameron |
| Peter Cameron |
| Marsha and Peter Cannon |
| Capital Times |
| Denis Carey and Carol Koby Carey |
| Duncan Carlsmith Carlsmith |
| Dick and Kim Cates |
| Julia Cechvala |
| Louisa Cenatiempo |
| Janice Chernik |
| Robert Christofferson |
| Joel Christopher |
| Dave Cieslewicz |
| Catherine Cleary |
| Pamela Clinkenbeard |
| Ned Cochrane and Bonnie Cox |
| Marcus and Sheila Cohen |
| Sarah Cohen |
| Scott Cohn |
| Rebecca Cole |
| Joanne and Jim Collins |
| Comfypac |
| Sara Companik |
| Daniel Conley |
| Tim Conroy |
| Linda Cooke |
| Bill Cooney |
| Marcy Cox |
| Craig Newmark Philanthropies |
| Mike Crane |
| David Crawford |
| Robert Crawford |
| Julie Crego |
| Dorothy Crenshaw |
| Sue Cross |
| Kathleen Culver |
| Nora Cusack and Brent Nicastro |
| Betty and Corkey Custer |
| Annette Czarnecki |
| Debra Dahlke |
| John Daigle |
| Tim Damos |
| James Danky and Christine Schelshorn |
| Susan Davenport |
| Judith Davidoff |
| Brian A. Davis and Deborah M. Umstead |
| Thulani Davis |
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Founding Date
Reading Time: 3 minutes2009-01-19
Masthead
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe are proud of our team of senior staff, staff, fellows, contributors, interns and consultants, who work together to make Wisconsin Watch strong. Click on the team member’s name to learn more about them.
Part of our mission at Wisconsin Watch is to train the next generation of journalists and those working in the business of journalism. After team members leave our offices, they move on to jobs in journalism and other fields, where they put the skills they learned at the Center to use by holding the powerful to account, creating innovative ways of engaging with the public, sustaining high-quality journalism, and strengthening our society. We celebrate the successes of our former staff, fellows and interns, who are Wisconsin Watch’s legacy.
Also, learn more about our Board of Directors.
Founders
Andy Hall
Executive Director
Andy Hall is co-founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Since 2009, he has overseen the Center’s journalistic and financial operations. Previously he spent 26 years at the Wisconsin State Journal and The Arizona Republic and has won dozens of awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism and a national award from the Education Writers Association. Hall is a former Investigative Reporters and Editors board member, and current IRE member.
Dee J. Hall
Managing Editor
Dee J. Hall, a co-founder of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, joined as managing editor in June 2015. She worked at the Wisconsin State Journal for 24 years as an editor and reporter focusing on projects and investigations. Previously she was a reporter for eight years at The Arizona Republic, covering city government, schools and the environment. Hall has won more than three dozen local, state and national awards for her work, and is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Senior Staff
Jay Burseth
development director
Jay Burseth joined the Center in April 2020. His role includes setting the organization’s vision for fundraising growth and building and executing a development plan. Prior to joining the Center, Burseth led fundraising for the Milwaukee County Parks and was the Development Director for WMSE 91.7 in Milwaukee. Burseth holds a Master’s in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from UW-Milwaukee, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History, also from UWM.
Coburn Dukehart
digital and multimedia director
Coburn Dukehart joined the Center in 2015. Her role includes directing the Center’s visual and digital strategy, creating visual content, and managing digital assets. Dukehart previously was a senior photo editor at National Geographic, picture and multimedia editor at NPR, and a photo editor at USATODAY.com and washingtonpost.com. She has received numerous awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year International and the White House News Photographers Association.
Lauren Fuhrmann
associate director
Lauren Fuhrmann joined the Center in 2011 after receiving her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Fuhrmann leads revenue development efforts as well as public engagement initiatives, and assists with development of donors and writing of grant reports. Fuhrmann is vice president of the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She was among five young leaders in the inaugural group of “Future Headliners” honored in 2014 by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
Jim Malewitz
Deputy Managing editor
Jim Malewitz joined the Center in 2019. His role includes editing, managing fellows and interns, and investigative reporting. He has worked for Bridge Magazine in his home state of Michigan, was an investigative reporter for the Texas Tribune and Stateline. Malewitz majored in political science at Grinnell College in Iowa and holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa. He was a founding member of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, where he serves on the board of directors.
Emily Neinfeldt
membership director
Emily Neinfeldt joined the Center in 2017. Her role includes maintaining the digital infrastructure and operations developed under the Facebook Local News Membership Accelerator and leading audience-growth efforts including marketing initiatives. Before working at the Center, she was a news intern at Wispolitics.com and managing editor at The Badger Herald. Neinfeldt is secretary of the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and holds degree in journalism and political science from UW-Madison.
Staff
Bevin Christie
project manager, News414
Bevin Christie joined News414, a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and Outlier Media, in 2020. Christie is a social entrepreneur and community organizer, with a background in education reform and workforce development. She has partnered with public/private schools, community based organizations, and the Milwaukee community to build upon a belief that healing, equity, and inclusion is key to Milwaukee being a better place to thrive not just survive.
Will Cioci
Multimedia Reporter
Will Cioci joined Wisconsin Watch in 2020. He is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pursuing a degree in Journalism, Environmental Studies, and Political Science. He has interned for state and local government in the past and works as co-editor-in-chief and photographer for the Daily Cardinal student newspaper at UW-Madison.
Claire DeRosa
graphic designer & animator
Claire DeRosa joined the Center in 2019. As graphic designer, she is responsible for creating project series graphics, logos, ads, page layouts and social media content for the Center. She also serves as lead designer for the collaborative News 414 project. DeRosa graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in journalism and political science in 2020 and studied 3D animation at the School of Motion during quarantine learning how to model, light, color and animate in Cinema 4D. She enjoys deejaying and producing electronic music in her free time.
Mario Koran
Investigative REPORTER
Mario Koran joined the Center in July 2021. He was a 2021 Knight Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan. Previously, he was a west coast correspondent for the Guardian US and covered education for Voice of San Diego, where he was named 2016 reporter of the year by the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Appeal, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and he was a Wisconsin Watch intern in 2013. He holds a BA in Spanish literature and MA in journalism from UW-Madison.
Phoebe Petrovic
criminal justice reporting project manager
Phoebe Petrovic joined the Center in 2019 as a Report for America corps member. She is leading creation of an investigative podcast examining police and prosecutorial misconduct. She formerly worked at WPR through the Lee Ester News Fellowship and was an editorial intern at “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting. She also worked as a producer for NPR’s “Here & Now” and a reporter for WCPN ideastream. Petrovic earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Yale University, where she founded and led various audio projects.
Fellows
Diana Butsko
EDMUND S. MUSKIE REPORTING FELLOW
Diana Butsko joined the Center in June 2021 as an Edmund S. Muskie reporting fellow. Currently, she is studying political science at Southern Illinois University through the Fulbright scholarship. Diana has almost five years of reporting experience in Ukrainian and Russian media. She speaks Ukrainian and Russian. She is based in Madison.
Madeline Fuerstenberg
Ann Devroy reporting Fellow
Madeline Fuerstenberg joined Wisconsin Watch in June 2021, after graduating from UW-Eau Claire with a bachelors in journalism. She has interned with The Cambridge News & Deerfield Independent, was editor-in-chief of UW-Eau Claire’s newspaper, The Spectator, wrote for The Chippewa Valley Post and interned with WQOW News 18. Her work includes international coverage of Holocaust research in Lithuania. She has two Wisconsin Newspaper Association awards, and is the recipient of the 2020 Ann Devroy Fellowship. She will intern with the Washington Post in the fall.
Brenda Wintrode
Roy W. Howard Fellow
Brenda Wintrode joined the Center in July 2021. She earned her BA in business administration at Bryant University in Rhode Island. After a career switch, she was named the Philip Merrill College of Journalism’s outstanding master’s student when she graduated in 2020. As a reporter for the Howard Center, she was the lead writer on an award-winning investigation of the federal CARES Act’s failure to prevent evictions during the pandemic. She also covered Maryland state government for Capital News Service and was a data journalist for Maryland Matters.
Contributors
Jack Kelly
Contributing reporter, New News Lab
Jack Kelly reports on politics, health care, and agriculture in Wisconsin and the Midwest. Born and raised in the Milwaukee-area, he is a proud alumnus of both UW-Madison and Northwestern University. Jack’s reporting has been published by the Wisconsin State Journal, The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., United Press International and dozens of other outlets.
Wesley Lethem
Audio Stories Narrator
Wesley Lethem is an audiovisual and acoustic engineer with a diverse background in narration, audio design & production, podcasting, theater, live sound, noise control, recording, AV design, and architectural acoustics. He is the owner and founder of Sound Service, a Chicago based design and engineering company and currently works for Shure Incorporated as a DSP Test Engineer.
Interns
Clare Amari
Reporting intern, Columbia Journalism School/Institute for Nonprofit News internship program
Clare Amari joined the Center in September 2021. She recently received her master’s degree with honors from the Columbia Journalism School in New York. There, she created an investigative podcast about an unsolved murder and investigated policing practices around domestic violence in Ohio. She previously worked as a legal assistant for an international law firm, and holds degrees in Classical languages and literature from Columbia University and the University of Oxford.
Lauryn Azu
public engagement and marketing intern
Lauryn Azu joined Wisconsin Watch in January 2021. She is pursuing degrees in journalism and Latin American studies and a certificate in digital studies from UW-Madison. She is interning at the Chicago Tribune for the summer of 2021. She is also senior copy editor of UW-Madison’s publication The Black Voice. She was an Election Integrity Fellow with the Center for Journalism Ethics, and interned at WDET-FM Detroit, the Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and the Detroit Free Press.
Dana Brandt
reporting intern
Dana Brandt joined Wisconsin Watch in January 2021 as an editorial intern. She is a senior at UW-Madison, where she studies journalism and English. Brandt has previously worked as a student fellow with the university’s Center for Journalism Ethics, as an investigative intern with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and as college news editor with the Daily Cardinal, an independent student newspaper on campus.
Hannah Davis
Reporting intern
Hannah Davis joined Wisconsin Watch in June 2021. She is currently pursuing a Political Science/ International Relations degree from Carleton College, where she is a rising junior. Davis is the Managing Editor of Carleton’s independent student newspaper, the Carletonian, and has previously worked as the Carletonion’s Features and Arts Editor and as a Staff Writer.
Zhen Wang
Reporting intern
Zhen Wang joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporting intern in May 2021. At UW-Madison, she is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism, honing her investigative journalism skills, and preparing herself for a career in health care journalism. She previously worked for the Guardian Beijing bureau and China Daily. Before joining the journalism industry, she worked in various sectors and obtained a master’s degree in international relations in New Zealand. She speaks Chinese and is a member of Asian American Journalists Association.
Isaac Wasserman
Photojournalism intern
Isaac Wasserman joined Wisconsin Watch in 2021 as a photo intern. He is pursuing degrees in journalism and environmental studies at the University of Oregon but is based in Madison, Wisconsin for the summer. He is a photojournalist at the Daily Emerald, the student paper at UO, a sports photographer for GoDucks and a photographer for Flux Magazine, the SOJC’s premiere feature magazine. Journalism that covers environmental justice issues ignited his passion for photojournalism and continues to inspire him.
Consultants
Christopher J. Glueck
development consultant
Christopher Glueck joined the Center in 2015, after retiring as a senior director of development at the University of Wisconsin Foundation. Prior to that, Glueck spent 30 years in tech working in sales, product management, marketing and management positions, primarily with Wang Laboratories, Inc. and NCR Corporation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from UW-Madison and a master’s in business administration from Rivier College in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Gail Kohl
Development Consultant
Gail Kohl joined the Center in 2010. She has more than 30 years of fundraising experience for both statewide and local organizations, including American Players Theatre, Taliesin Preservation Commission, Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Tourism Program, United Cerebral Palsy, Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy and Big Top Chautauqua. From 1993 until 2010, Kohl was development director of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
Barbara Johnson
senior strategic adviser
Barbara Johnson joined the Center in 2016. As a volunteer, she helps strengthen the Center’s operations, with a special focus on the development of the Center’s business model. Johnson was CEO and COO of four media companies in New York and Madison before her retirement in 2015. She was also a reporter and editor for 15 years before moving into business roles, winning national and state awards for her investigative stories. She has served on the boards of public and private companies and as an operating partner of a private equity firm. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Christa Westerberg
counsel
Christa Westerberg is an attorney at Pines Bach LLP in Madison, Wisconsin, where she practices environmental, civil rights, and open government law. Since 2008, Westerberg has served as the vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
Mission Statement with Coverage Priorities
Reading Time: 3 minutes
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit and nonpartisan center based in Madison, Wis.
We publish our news stories on our website WisconsinWatch.org and distribute them statewide through our own distribution system and nationally through a partnership with the Associated Press.
Our mission:
To increase the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy.
Our values:
The Center values truth and pursues it through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous and nonpartisan reporting. We also value transparency, collaboration, innovation and a spirit of public service. These values guide the Center’s training of journalists and its investigations, which seek to protect the interests of people in vulnerable circumstances, expose wrongdoing and deficiencies in systems, and explore solutions to problems.
Our guiding principles:
Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Explore solutions.
How we work
To fulfill its mission, the Center combines innovative technology with time-tested journalistic techniques to increase the transparency of official actions, intensify the search for solutions to governmental and societal problems, strengthen democracy and raise the quality of investigative journalism.
The Center works by:
- Producing investigative reports independently and in partnership with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, and other for-profit and nonprofit news organizations including members of the Institute for Nonprofit News.
- Educating and training high school and college students and working journalists in investigative reporting techniques, including through guest lecturing and teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
- Offering paid reporting and public engagement and marketing internships to UW-Madison students, who work in a professional capacity for the Center.
- Partnering with Wisconsin Public Radio on their Mike Simonson Memorial Investigative Reporting Fellowship to train an early career radio reporter in investigative reporting techniques.
- Hosting fellows from other journalism programs, including the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program and The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia University.
- Helping commercial news outlets, including ethnic media, pursue their own investigations or produce joint projects.
- Publishing and distributing investigative reports and offering a forum for sharing investigative findings, story tips and moderated discussions.
Our structure
The Center is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization operated by a professional staff under the guidance of a nationally noted board of directors. The Center collaborates with, but is independent of, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication, where it is housed; Wisconsin Public Radio; and Wisconsin Public Television — and with mainstream and ethnic news media across the nation. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the University of Wisconsin-Madison or any of its affiliates.
The Center is a founding member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, formerly the Investigative News Network, the first network of nonprofit journalism organizations that conduct investigative reporting in the public interest.
The Center is a national leader in promoting journalistic ethics and financial transparency standards.
Our focus
Our focus is on government integrity and quality of life issues. Since its launch in January 2009, the award-winning Center has distributed more than 350 major reports, exploring such issues as: the growing reliance on immigrants by the state’s dairy industry — published in both Spanish and English; the rising numbers of low-income students in Wisconsin schools; the role of DNA testing in proving the innocence of a dozen Wisconsin prisoners; Wisconsin’s troubling increases in suicides; the underreporting of sexual assaults on Wisconsin campuses; the flaws in Wisconsin’s GPS monitoring program; dwindling protections and incentives for whistleblowers; and the state of Wisconsin’s democracy.
Our reach
Many of the Center’s reports are produced in collaboration with other news organizations in Wisconsin and nationwide. The reports have been cited, published or broadcast by more more than 800 news organizations including Wisconsin Public Radio, The New York Times, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, HuffPost, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Oshkosh Northwestern, La Crosse Tribune, Eau Claire Leader Telegram, The Country Today, WBAY-ABC in Green Bay, Hudson Star-Observer, Janesville Gazette, La Comunidad and WisPolitics.com. The Center’s reports have reached an estimated audience of more than 73 million.
Read about the way our work is having an impact, and testimonials from our partners, supporters and former interns.
Fact-checking Standards
Reading Time: 3 minutesAt the nonprofit and nonpartisan Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, accuracy is something we think about all the time. An integral step in our process happens after a reporter finishes a story but before the story reaches our readers’ eyes: fact-checking.
Every report we produce goes through a rigorous review. Managing Editor Dee J. Hall, or another fact-checker, typically spends between eight and 12 hours with the reporter verifying each and every word. Tack on the time it takes to vet multimedia elements, and we spend at least two full days scrutinizing each major package we distribute.
We believe it is time well spent.
“We’re in the information and fact business,” Hall said. “It is up to individual news editors to choose to run our stories, and they have to be able to trust us.”
Because even a minor fact error like a misspelled name could undermine the Center’s credibility, we take every measure we can to report with accuracy.
For each individual fact — a name or age, a report’s title, a summary of events, a quote or even an impression — the reporter must produce evidence of it from a reliable source. On a printed copy of the story, the fact-checker numbers the fact, while the reporter shows and marks its supporting evidence, which is also printed.
It is a version of a system graciously shared in 2009 by our colleagues at the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity — one we adopted to improve the accuracy of our journalism after two of our earliest reports contained mistakes.
Every fact-check reveals the need for additional editing to enhance clarity. Hall and the reporter also consider whether a story covers a topic fully and fairly.
“There are times during the fact-checking process where you identify gaps in the reporting,” Hall said. “Let’s say a fact you thought was correct is actually off, what else does that mean?”
It is not unusual for a reporter to be sent to do additional reporting after the first review.
In the end, every story has a thick paper file of fact-checking materials which can be easily referenced and reviewed.
Future journalists trained in fact-checking
In addition to producing high-quality journalism, another key part of our mission is training current and future journalists. We aim to instill our obsession with accuracy in them, too.
In 2016 we began working with The Observatory, a student fact-checking outlet founded by Michael Wagner and Lucas Graves, faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. We assist in fact-checking every story The Observatory publishes.
This page was excerpted from a longer article by Center reporter Cara Lombardo: We take facts seriously at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Here’s why.
Unnamed Sources Policy
Reading Time: 3 minutesAdopted May 8, 2018, by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Board of Directors
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism’s newsroom guidelines on use of unnamed sources are based on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, approved in 1996, and adopted in full by the Center in 2009; and guidelines publicly shared by The New York Times in July 2016.
The Center’s guidelines on use of unnamed sources:
— Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
— Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
— Any use of anonymous sourcing must be specifically approved by a top editor such as the managing editor or executive director.
— Direct quotes from anonymous sources should be used rarely, and only when such quotes are pivotal to the story.
— At least one editor must know the specific identity of any anonymous source. This in no way reflects a lack of trust between editor and reporter; it’s just a regular part of our diligence in this sensitive area. The reporter should routinely offer this information, or the story editor should ask.
Article Post Types
Reading Time: 3 minutespost
Seke Ballard is the founder of Good Tree Capital, a firm that lends money to small cannabis businesses.
Ballard’s interest in cannabis was sparked during the summer of 2015, when churches were being burned across the South and a young white man walked into a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and murdered nine people, all of whom were black. He says it felt like Jim Crow was back.
Ballard lives in Chicago, but half of his family is from Charleston, so his dad recruited him for a road trip to pay respects to the victims. During the 10-hour car trip, a question animated the drive: Where had his dad’s generation gone wrong?
“His response to that question was that he felt like securing the economic foundation of the African-American community was the unfinished business of the civil rights movement,” Ballard says. “His belief was that as a people it wasn’t practical that they couldn’t sustain social and political advances unless those advances are built on firm economic footing.”
His dad ran into many of the barriers black and marginalized people continue to run into today. When he applied for 13 small business loans to expand his pulpwood logging company, he was rejected by every bank for every loan.
The Cannabis Question is a series exploring questions about proposals to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin.
“His hypothesis was that it had nothing to do with the merit of his business but instead with the color of his skin. Turns out he was exactly right,” Ballard says, referring to studies finding people of color are often discriminated against when seeking small business loans.
In August, Ballard and fellow entrepreneur Seun Adedeji co-hosted a free event for “unfairly targeted communities” in Chicago who wanted to learn how to navigate the new Illinois cannabis industry. Adedji owns a cannabis business in Oregon and is opening three retail stores in Massachusetts.
Marijuana Inc.: Billions at stake as states move to legalize cannabis
For two hours, they taught the crowd, nearly all of whom were black, what they needed to know about running a cannabis business, from how to fill out the application to how to acquire and retain customers.
For Ballard, Adedeji and the night’s attendees, legal cannabis could right some of the wrongs of the past, produce the sort of intergenerational wealth for blacks that Ballard’s father envisioned, and reverse the downward spiral of disinvestment that has ravaged places like Bronzeville.
“From my opinion, I think we’re seeing a rebirth of Bronzeville and other areas on the south side of Chicago,” Ballard says. “I can see how cannabis can play a role in that rebirth.”
This story was produced as part of an investigative reporting class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication under the direction of Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch’s managing editor and funded in part by the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment at UW-Madison. The nonprofit WisconsinWatch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison journalism school. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
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