Inside the Newsroom

We just completed another exhilarating week inside our bustling California Watch newsroom.

Let’s recap:

MONDAY, JULY 26: Senior Reporter Louis Freedberg’s story on the shortened school-year ran on the front page of the Riverside Press Enterprise, capping an 11-day publication/broadcast run for the story that involved nearly 20 partners, including KQED-Public Radio. The story, which first appeared on KGO-TV July 15 and in the Sacramento Bee July 16, ultimately was published in five languages with the help of New America Media. Also on Monday, Senior Reporter Lance Williams posted a story on our blog about Carly Fiorina’s campaign contributions coming from an outspoken Ohio mine owner who dismisses global warming as “hysterical global goofiness.”

TUESDAY, JULY 27: The San Francisco Chronicle ran Lance’s Fiorina story on the front page.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28: We began distributing our next story – this one from freelancer Will Evans, a former Center for Investigative Reporting staffer. Soon after we hit the send button, we got commitments to run it from four newspapers. We expect the list of partners to grow before the story goes live this weekend.

THURSDAY, JULY 29: A new ASNE survey found that California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting have the most diverse newsroom of any of the larger nonprofit newsrooms operating in America. Today, the California Watch staff is made up of more than 35 percent minority journalists. That far exceeds the percentages at ProPublica (22 percent, according to their revised numbers released after the survey); the Center for Public Integrity (20 percent); Voice of San Diego (20 percent); Texas Tribune (18.2 percent) and The Bay Citizen (15.8 percent). A few critics complained about the results because only about half of the survey recipients responded. However, the nonprofit news centers we are most often compared with did respond. As a whole, the ASNE survey found that nonprofit news operations have more diversity than traditional newsrooms, and we are leading the way.

FRIDAY, JULY 30: We declared Friday Christina Jewett Day. Her blog post from Thursday about a Riverside County hospital administrator who had been self-dealing in his previous job ran on the front page of the Riverside Press Enterprise. And she turned a great tip about a troubled Anaheim doctor being looked at for homicide in a patient death into a double-byline story on the front page of the Orange County Register.

SATURDAY, JULY 31: We ended the month by shattering web traffic records on our website, blowing past our 12-month goal for monthly visitors and page views. And it's only month seven. Why did our traffic surge about 30 percent in July? Simple: The contributions of reporters Joanna Lin, Susanne Rust and Ryan Gabrielson have strengthened an already powerhouse lineup of reporter-bloggers. Our new Public Engagement Manager Ashley Alvarado is kicking serious butt on social media and outreach. And we’re getting wonderful contributions from a great group of interns in Mandy Hofmockel, Austin Fast and Timothy Sandoval. Also on Saturday, we posted a story by Erica Perez about a San Fernando Valley contractor, and major campaign contributor, who keeps landing construction jobs despite performance issues.

SUNDAY, AUG. 1: Erica’s story ran exclusively in the Los Angeles Daily News, which agreed to publish it at the full 80 inches (2,250 words) we offered to them.

Lots occurred outside the spotlight. Michael Montgomery and Corey Johnson uncovered huge revelations on stories they’re pursuing. Data Analyst Agustin Armendariz made more headway building data tools that will blow people away when they go live. And Chase Davis helped conceive the next iteration of our new political accountability website Politics Verbatim – when he wasn’t lying on a beach in Hawaii.

Not a bad way to spend the week at all.