Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Wisconsin Watch or the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit investigative news organization housed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.^[1] The organization's mission is to "increase the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future generations of investigative journalists."^[2]

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Established	January 2009
Focus	Investigative and public interest journalism
Director	Andy Hall
Location	Madison, Wisconsin
Website	wisconsinwatch.org

In 2013, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker vetoed a provision of the state's biennial budget that would have prohibited collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Center.^[3][4] Under the terms of the proposed provision, the Center would have faced eviction from the University of Wisconsin's campus, where it has its offices. Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate had sent the bill to the governor's desk by voting to remove the Center from the University's campus due to questions over the Center's funding sources and a concern that the Center's work was biased against conservatives.^[5][6]

Journalist Bill Lueders worked at the center for four years, writing about the intersection of money and politics, before becoming associate editor of The Progressive in 2015.^{[7][non-primary source needed]}

In 2024, Wisconsin Watch merged with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.^[8]

Affiliations

The Center is a founding member of the Institute for Nonprofit News (formerly known as Investigative News Network), a group of nonprofit journalism organizations.^[9]

The Center also is a signatory to the International Fact Checking Network and its code of principles,^[10] a fact-checking consortium.^[11]

Awards

In 2017, The Center won a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society for Professional Journalists.^[12][13]

See also

• Centre for Investigative Journalism, London, England
• Institute for Investigative Journalism, at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), nonprofit news organization based in Emeryville, California

References

1. "Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
2. "What we do". Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
3. Craver, Jack (July 2, 2013). "How the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism won". Capital Times. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
4. Kimball, Joe (July 1, 2013). "Veto means Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism stays at UW-Madison". MinnPost. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
5. Herzog, Karen (June 5, 2013). "Investigative journalism group sounds alarm over state budget action". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
6. Clark, Anna (June 5, 2013). "Watch out, watchdogs". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
7. Lueders, Bill (May 23, 2015). "Money & Politics: Reflections on the flow of money". Beloit Daily News. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
8. Stanley, George (2024-09-17). "Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service merge". Wisconsin Watch. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
9. "The Investigative News Network". Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
10. "Wisconsin Watch". International Fact Checking Network. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
11. "Fact-checking: A curated guide to resources and ideas". DW.COM. October 8, 2020. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
12. Kristen Hare (1 May 2017). "How a Wisconsin couple grew an idea from a basement office into an investigative institution". Poynter Institute. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
13. "Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism wins top national award for drinking water project". WisconsinWatch.org. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.