Jacob Fenton

Director of Computer-Assisted Reporting
jsfenfen@gmail.com

Jacob Fenton, who recently joined the Sunlight Foundation, continues to work at the intersection of media and technology, as he has for the last decade. At the Workshop he analyzes data for investigations; maintains the servers and backend code that power Banktracker and the rest of the site; and builds web applications, databases and interactive maps and graphics.

Previously Fenton was database editor at The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), and worked as a reporter and editor at two other Pennsylvania newspapers. Prior to that, he worked as a software developer in Palo Alto, Calif. He graduated from Reed College in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in physics.

Projects built by Jacob Fenton

Flying Cheap: Air safety and accident record database
Connected: Digital radio station locator
iLab: Ecosystem database

Projects maintained by Jacob Fenton

Banktracker (originally built by Hot Type Consulting)

Stories to which Jacob Fenton has contributed

Regional airlines cut cost of flying, at what price? (February 9th, 2010)

Multimedia by Jacob Fenton

Broadband rate, 100 largest US metropolitan areas (March 23rd, 2012)
Broadband adoption map: South lags behind, rural areas improve (March 23rd, 2012)
Broadband rate by state (January 21st, 2012)
Airline maintenance outsourcing worldwide (January 18th, 2011)
Coal mine deaths, fines and significant violations for the 10 largest coal mine controllers, 2000-2009 (November 22nd, 2010)
Map: Wind farms awarded stimulus grants before program started (October 21st, 2010)

Incubating new economic models for journalism.

Latest from iLab

Citizen journalists work undercover in North Korea to show daily life

Japanese journalists have been training citizens in North Korea to take audio and video recordings of everyday life in an effort to document the hardships, including food shortages, prevalent there. Meet the man behind the training, Jiro Ishimaru.

Most Recent Posts

New rules still don't cover immigrants

A zero-tolerance policy and a set of new rules to protect against sexual assault and rape in prisons nationwide were announced Thursday by the Justice Department. The new rules come nearly a decade after Congress mandated new rape protections for those behind bars under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003. But the new regulations won't immediately impact the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration detention centers, as it still has 120 days to write its own rules to comply with PREA and another 240 days to finalize them.

Knight moves to support donor transparency

The Knight Foundation has taken a major step in promoting transparency by requiring journalism and nonprofit grant seekers to disclose more information about their donors.

'Honor and privilege' to work with Mike Wallace

Charles Lewis, executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop, remembers Mike Wallace. Lewis worked alongside Wallace at "60 Minutes."

Sunshine Week: A commitment to open government

Next week is the annual Sunshine Week observance, reminding us of the importance and value of open government.

NICAR Conference: Focus on products, tools, utilities

An overview of the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference.

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, 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.

America What Went Wrong

Donald Barlett and James Steele are revisiting America: What Went Wrong, their landmark 1991 newspaper series, in a new project with the Investigative Reporting Workshop. Over the next year, the project team will examine how four decades of public policy has shaped America's ongoing economic crisis.