The Center for Public Integrity

Center Staff Writer Kristen Lombardi has been named a 2011 Nieman fellow. She is one of 24 journalists from the U.S. and abroad who will take a sabbatical year of study at Harvard University.

The fellowship is funded by the Neiman Foundation for Journalism. Kristen will study the legal and social conditions that promote wrongful convictions, particularly the impact of institutional misconduct and the consequences of systemic resistance to reform.

Learn more here.

Center for Public Integrity Senior Reporter Jim Morris gave the 11th annual Upton Sinclair Memorial Lecture for Outstanding Investigative Reporting on May 18 in Portland, Ore. The lecture is sponsored by the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Morris specializes in environment and public health reporting and has lately been digging deep into worker safety problems in the oil refinery and asbestos industries. Read more about Jim’s remarks here.

The Center for Public Integrity and NPR have received a prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the story “Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes.”  

The Center’s 12-month investigation with NPR showed that students who have been the victim of sexual assaults on campus face a depressing array of barriers that often assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time. Meanwhile, students found responsible for alleged sexual assaults on campuses can face little or no punishment and go on to graduate, as colleges and universities ignore the problem.

“This was a meaningful and powerful investigation,” said Center Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “The Center for Public Integrity is delighted to have collaborated with an excellent team from NPR in exposing a deeply troubling fact of life on too many campuses across the country. We know that as many as 50 million Americans read, saw or heard these compelling stories.”  

The NPR series was reported by correspondent Joseph Shapiro, who worked in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity’s lead project reporter, Kristen Lombardi. NPR’s investigative team included Robert Benincasa and Susanne Reber; the Center’s team included Gordon Witkin, David Donald, and Kristin Jones.

“I’m pleased the story has had such a clear impact on public policy,” said Lombardi.  “It spurred congressional action on Capitol Hill and led the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen its oversight of how colleges and universities handle campus rape cases.”

Spring is journalism awards season and we’re delighted that the Center for Public Integrity and partner NPR have received a prestigious Dart Award for the story “Seeking Justice in Campus Rapes.” The award is bestowed by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.

“This series combined far-reaching investigative reporting with powerful personal stories to expose a pattern in which college students found responsible for sexual assaults face little punishment, while their victims receive little help,” said the Dart Center in a statement. Center journalists Kristen Lombardi, Kristin Jones, David Donald and Gordin Witkin were named in the award, along with Joseph Shapiro, Robert Benincasa and Susanne Reber from NPR.

Our health care analyst Wendell Potter continues to give unprecedented insight into how insurance companies make money and game the system. We’re particularly proud that Wendell’s book, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans, just won the Ridenhour Book Prize. The prize is given in honor of investigative journalist Ron Ridenhour.

A Center for Public Integrity collaboration with NPR was recognized with a Peabody award for NPR today for the series, “Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes.” The Center was the key originating partner for this investigative project and provided many of the interview contacts, as well as the data, for NPR’s coverage of this important issue.

“NPR is highly deserving of this honor,” said the Center’s Executive Director William E. Buzenberg, who was also former head of news for NPR. “We are very proud to have collaborated on this outstanding investigative package. Our partnership with NPR on the problem of campus assault created a compelling story that was seen, heard, or read by as many as 40 million people.”

The NPR series was reported by correspondent Joseph Shapiro, who worked in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity’s lead project reporter, Kristen Lombardi. NPR’s investigative team included Susanne Reber and Robert Benincasa; the Center’s team included Gordon Witkin, David Donald, and Kristin Jones.

The Center’s 12-month investigation, Sexual Assault on Campus: A Frustrating Search for Justice, showed that students who have been the victim of sexual assaults on campus face a depressing array of barriers that often either assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time. Meanwhile, students found “responsible” for alleged sexual assaults on campuses can face little or no punishment and go on to graduate, as colleges and universities ignore the problem.

Jennifer 8. Lee and Matt Thompson have joined the board of directors of the Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative journalism organizations.

Jennifer 8. Lee is a journalist and author who spent nine years at The New York Times. There she covered technology, Washington, crime, poverty and culture. Lee has played a lead role in the Knight News Challenge, a $25 million initiative to support news innovation, and worked on bringing journalism content to the 2011 SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. She is also one of the lead organizers of Hacks/Hackers, a rapidly expanding global grassroots group that brings technologists and journal-ists together.

“Jennifer thinks and works at the cutting edge of our digital 21st century journalism,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “She has the knowledge, energy, and creativity to make a significant contribution to the Center for Public Integrity and I’m excited to have her on the board.”

Lee is also the author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. She also serves on the Nieman Foundation advisory board, chairs the Asian American Writers Workshop board, and is a past member of the Poynter Institute national advisory board. Lee graduated with a degree in applied math and economics from Harvard. 

“The Center first shaped me when I read Toxic Legacy as a young Washington environmental reporter,” said Lee, “and it has continued to impress me with the formation of the Investigative News Network. Now I am honored to play a role in the Center’s vision of how technological tools can set the agenda for accountability journalism in today’s evolving media landscape.”

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org, has joined the board of directors of the Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative news organizations.

Newmark launched craigslist in 1995 as a simple platform where people could help each other out with basic needs, like finding a job or a home. The hugely popular classifieds site now attracts more than 60 million unique visitors per month and serves 700 cities in 55 countries. Staying true to his community-building philosophy, Newmark works for the company as customer service representative and has no managerial role.

Yesterday, Newmark announced a major new initiative, craigconnects.org, a 20-year plan to connect and protect organizations (including the Center for Public Integrity) that are doing good worldwide via the Internet.

“Craig Newmark is an iconic visionary who saw the community - empowerment potential of the Internet early on,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “It’s a great honor to have him on our board where he can help the Center for Public Integrity in its own community building efforts linked to in-depth investigative reporting and truth-telling.”

Called “The Wizard of the Local” by Time magazine, Newmark was named one of the Time 100 in 2005. He was named Person of the Year at the 9th Annual Webby Awards that same year and in 2008 Business Week named Newmark one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

“The Center does high-quality investigative reporting, vital to the future of a free country,” said Newmark. “Citizens need to stand up and be part of that.”

Arianna Huffington and Frederic Seegal have joined the board of directors of the Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative news organizations.

Huffington is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Huffington Post, and will soon become president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group at AOL. She is a driving force in the rapidly changing world of digital news delivery. Earlier this year, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund merged with the Center for Public Integrity.

“Arianna is a major asset to our board,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “She understands the importance of non-partisan investigative journalism, and she has proven instincts on how the Internet news marketplace is evolving. I welcome her counsel as we continue to innovate at the Center in the years ahead.”

“I’m very pleased to be joining the board of the Center for Public Integrity, which is doing so much to advance the cause of investigative journalism,” said Huffington. “In these tumultuous times for the Fourth Estate, it’s vital that we have places that ensure that the most important stories of our time aren’t just covered after things go bad — as happened with the war in Iraq and the economic crisis — but are uncovered before disaster strikes.  We need fewer autopsies of what went wrong and more biopsies of what is about to go wrong.”

Investment banker Frederic Seegal has held top executive positions at Wasserstein Perella, Salomon Brothers, and Lehman Brothers. The veteran media investment banker is now with Peter J. Solomon Company. Seegal specializes in media, telecom and Internet companies. In addition to the Center, he is also a trustee of the New York City Center and the James Beard Foundation.