Incubating new economic models for journalism.

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Journalism in Russia: Still hampered, but improving

The difficulty of producing investigative journalism in Russia, where journalists are often threatened, is compounded by the economic hardships many publications face, according to Russian journalists who spoke last week at a conference in Washington, D.C. 

Reporting on Washington for those outside the Beltway

The decline of local news is highly visible in the nation's capital, where the once-robust tradition of regional reporting — covering the federal government as it pertains to specific regions, states and communities — is now a shadow of its former self. “When I started, regional reporting was very important,” said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. “I've watched it, over time, fade away.”

 

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Wisconsin legislators vote to kick investigative journalism out

A group of Republican state legislators in control of the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee voted to kick the nationally respected Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, better known online as “Wisconsin Watch,” off the University of Wisconsin premises. Top officials at the university countered forcefully against the nocturnal mischief, calling it a "direct assault on our academic freedom."

Obama defends drone program amid calls for oversight

President Obama has pledged to increase accountability for the administration’s controversial drone program in a speech today at the National Defense University. The administration has used the program in the killing of thousands of suspected terrorists overseas, including four American citizens.

The move is in response to growing public unease on both sides of the aisle surrounding the administration’s use of drones, and recent criticisms by the state department’s former legal adviser, Harold Koh. In a speech May 7 at Oxford University, Koh asserted that the administration’s lack of transparency regarding drone use has led to public misinformation and disillusionment, and called on the president to release its full legal justification for the assassination of American citizens abroad.

Solitary amendment passes Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed an amendment Monday to the  844-page immigration bill that would both better define and limit the use of solitary confinement at immigration detention centers. The amendment limits the use of solitary confinement in adults and bans it for children younger than 18 and those with mental illness except in situations deemed as emergencies or threats.

Reporting the aftermath of a crisis: journalism and accountability in Bangladesh

Journalists from Bangladesh, meeting last week in Washington, implored local and international media to take a broader look at the social issues surrounding the garment factory collapse, and focus on understanding the social, political and economic factors that led to the accident.  

Supreme Court says states can limit FOIA laws to citizens

The Supreme Court ruled this week that states are not required to extend their Freedom of Information act coverage to people who are not citizens of the state. The unanimous opinion also held, once again, that access to government information is not a fundamental right. Effectively, the court was saying — as it has many times in the past — that access to government information is a privilege that can be regulated largely as governments see fit. 

Workshop Partners

We publish online and in print, often teaming up with other news organizations. We post quarterly updates to our BankTracker project, in which you can view the financial health of every bank and credit union in the country, with msnbc.com, now nbcnews.com, and we co-publish stories in our What Went Wrong project with The Philadelphia Inquirer and New America Media. Learn more on our partners page.

Investigating Power update

Profiles of notable journalists and their stories of key moments in U.S. history in the last 50 years can be found on the Investigating Power site. See Workshop Executive Editor Charles Lewis' latest video interviews as well as historic footage and timelines. You can also read more about the project and why we documented these groundbreaking examples of original, investigative journalism that helped shape or change public perceptions on key issues of our time, from civil rights to Iraq, here.