Watchdog.org
Type | Non Profit |
---|---|
Founded | September 2009 |
Headquarters | Bismarck, North Dakota, United States |
Website |
www |
Alexa rank | 52,689 (April 2014)[1] |
Type of site | News & blogging |
Available in | English |
Current status | Active |
Watchdog.org is a network of American news websites that feature reporting on state and local government from a conservative perspective.[2] It is a project of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.[3]
According to the Watchdog.org website, the organization exists to “(enhance) communication between reporters and (provide) a forum for published journalism, Watchdog.org promotes a vibrant, well-informed electorate and a more transparent government. Watchdog.org utilizes a state-specific approach, in order to provide readers with information that is of proximate and practical interest.”[4]
Organization
According to the website, “Watchdog.org is a collection of independent journalists covering state-specific and local government activity. The program began in September 2009, a project of Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting new media journalism. Watchdog.org’s investigative journalists and capitol news reporters across the country are doing what legacy journalism outlets prove unable to do: share information, dive deep into investigations, and provide the fourth estate that has begun to fade in recent decades.”[5]
In July 2011, the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism was reported to have found that, among other non-profit news outlets, "the conservative Watchdog.org sites ... don't reveal much about who’s paying their bills, and their work skews clearly in one direction, both in the topics they cover and the content of individual stories".[2]
In response to such criticism, Vice President for Journalism Steven Greenhut wrote in the Huffington Post: “Like many non-profits, we don't publicize our donors."[6]
Watchdog News Bureaus
Watchdog.org consists of 23 state news bureaus with journalists reporting on state and local government.[7][8] The network includes news outlets such as Hawaii Reporter, Illinois Watchdog, Wisconsin Reporter and bureaus in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio Watchdog, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.[9][10][11][12]
New Technology
Watchdog.org's sponsoring organization, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, promotes itself as an advocacy group for “transparency in government.”[13] They support this through the use of “new media.” Watchdog.org and the Franklin Center believe[14] that journalists must master new media, and they offer[13] in-depth training and education to individuals and organizations interested in learning new media techniques and how to be citizen journalists.
On June 13, 2011, Franklin Center announced[15] that Watchdog.org news coverage would be accessible through an IPhone application.
External links
References
- ↑ "Watchdog.org Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Benton, Joshua, (July 18, 2011). "Pew: Nonprofit journalism doesn’t mean ideology-free". Nieman Journalism Lab.
- ↑ Peters, Justin. "‘Serious, point-of-view journalism’?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ↑ Watchdog.org About Page
- ↑ Organization self-description
- ↑ Greenhunt response to critics
- ↑ Watchdog.org FAQ page
- ↑ Watchdog States
- ↑ PA Independent Welcomed Into State Press Association
- ↑ "Franklin Center". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- ↑ Colorado Watchdog
- ↑ Northwest Watchdog
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Franklin Center FAQ page
- ↑ Franklin Center Mission page
- ↑ Watchdog.org and Statehouse News Online Now Available As iPhone Apps