It’s easy to treat the media as a punching bag. But look to the nation’s local newsrooms. For little money or recognition, reporters in 2023 stood up to power brokers who tried to bully them into silence, exposed corrupt officials and even saved lives. Proof, from every state: In Alabama, @aldotcom exposed a jail where staff were accused of depriving a mentally ill man of his false teeth — letting him starve for days — and dumping him naked in an isolation unit, where he froze to death. al.com/news/2023/02/m…

U.S. local newspapers are dying at a rate of 2 per week. By 2025, a third of them will be gone. If you’re not convinced that’s a doomsday-level threat to democracy, read this state-by-state list of what local reporters uncovered in 2022. It’s a sample of what we stand to lose. In Alabama, @JohnArchibald exposed a small town that transformed its one-man police department into a predatory force that ticketed motorists at astronomical rates. Last year, police made more misdemeanor arrests than the town has residents.
al.com/news/2022/04/i…

Another year, another amazing run by local reporters. Take this tour of the U.S. where these reporters, in states red and blue, set out every day to expose wrongdoing in the communities where they live and work. Here’s just some of their findings: In Alabama, a controversial high school coach installed a hidden camera in an office to spy on a colleague, @DD_Wetzel reported after obtaining internal records. decaturdaily.com/news/morgan_co…

The nation’s local reporters deserve another standing ovation in 2020. A pandemic crippled the industry and shuttered newsrooms, yet every day these reporters set out to document outbreaks and other wrongdoing in communities across the U.S. Here’s just some of what they found: In Alabama, @ChallenStephens exposed a police lieutenant who said he wanted to sic the department’s K-9s on Black people. One dog mauled nine people over minor offenses in a year, eight of them Black. al.com/news/2020/10/p…

In fact, the local paper @BrunsDailyNews wrote about Ahmaud's killing the day after it happened, and has published more than 40 follow-up articles.

https://twitter.com/Poynter/status/1260231005249712128

The newspaper pressed local officials when they didn't identify who shot Ahmaud, and when prosecutors wouldn't explain why they recused themselves. thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_new…

Local journalism of 2019 in review: Throughout the U.S. this year, local reporters aimed to expose wrongdoing in their communities. Here’s just some of what they found: In Alabama, @ConnorASheets reported a sheriff pocketed $1.5 million in U.S. government funds that were supposed to be spent on food for federal inmates in a county jail al.com/news/2018/12/h…

Welcome to the magistrate courts of South Carolina, where politicians stocked the bench with judges who aren't lawyers and who have less training than the state's barbers or masseuses. Scores of them misapplied the law or abused the bench. Clemon Stocker was a barber and BBQ shop owner. As magistrate, he helped spring a relative from jail on assault charges. Five days later, the man murdered his wife. "I won't be able to do anything to him," said the victim's mother. "But I know God will work it out."

Local journalism 2018 in review -- in every corner of the U.S. this year, local reporters went to work every day looking to expose wrongdoing in their communities. Here’s just some of what they found: In Alabama, @ConnorASheets reported a sheriff pocketed about $750,000 slated for inmate food programs and bought beachfront property al.com/news/birmingha…