Changes at InvestigateWest
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InvestigateWest is announcing some exciting new changes!
With the departure next month of Executive Director and Editor Rita Hibbard, the InvestigateWest board is pleased to announce the Robert McClure, a co-founder as well as an award-winning environmental journalist, is succeeding Hibbard as acting Executive Director.
At the same time, Carol Smith, a co-founder and acclaimed social issues and health journalist, is moving into the role of acting Executive Editor.
“Robert will guide a growing, stable and exciting news organization into its next phase,” said Hibbard, who is leaving to pursue other projects long put on hold by the demands of a thriving nonprofit newsroom. “As a co-founder, he profoundly understands the importance of what we do, and is in a great position to push it forward.”
InvestigateWest is an independent, nonprofit investigative news organization founded in 2009 and based in Seattle. It is staffed by journalists with a track record of producing in-depth stories that produce change in public policy and practice. It has received funding from both national and regional foundations.
InvestigateWest’s work resulted in three laws passed by the state Legislature in 2011, including two establishing worker safety and health rules after the publication of a story linking exposure of chemotherapy drugs to illness and death among health care workers, and another banning carcinogenic pavement sealant after InvestigateWest wrote about their widespread use.
“Carol also will bring her investigative and narrative skills to the fore in her new role,” said Hibbard, who has been at the helm since InvestigateWest’s launch. “She’s a wonderful writer and journalist who will contribute hugely to the new organizational structure.”
InvestigateWest board members are examining exciting, new opportunities for digital growth and revenue over the next three to five years. The board will hold a strategic planning session to map out InvestigateWest’s editorial direction and deeper move into digital entrepreneurship, said Board President Brian Reich.
"There are some incredible opportunities for InvestigateWest to thrive and grow," Reich said. "Right now, you have an opportunity to do things differently and see a better result, and to expand our reach and deepen our impact. The timing to make these dramatic shifts in how organizations operate and interact has never been better.”
Board member Brant Houston said the board is looking to the future.
“Rita has been a tremendous leader of InvestigateWest and we will deeply miss her,” said board member Brant Houston. “But she has created a solid news organization and we look forward the next phase.”
InvestigateWest distributes its stories on its own web site, through social media and in partnership with a wide variety of print, broadcast and online news organizations. This month InvestigateWest is moving into new quarters in the offices of KCTS. InvestigateWest and KCTS9 have partnered on two previous investigations and have others underway.
Wealth & Poverty | February 2013
End of the Line
“It was just common knowledge – when you turn 18, you’re done,” Sharayah Lane said. “After the checks stopped coming, we all went our separate ways."
End of the Line is a new series by Claudia Rowe asking what happens when teens get too old for foster care in Washington State.
Photo Credit: Jon Connell/Flickr
Environment | January 2013
Sharecroppers of the Sea
Meet America's newest sharecroppers. Guys like Jared Bright who vie for control of the Pacific fishing industry's lower rungs, the only rungs that seem to be left. They don't own the halibut, not even when it lands in their boats.
Lee van der Voo uncovers absentee landlords, brokers and bankers, and fish quota that costs more than your house — realities that fly in the face of more official, rosy portrayals.
Health | November 2012
The Mystery of MS
Kids with multiple sclerosis, historically an adult disorder, offer researchers a set of intriguing new clues about the disease that could lead, eventually, to better treatments.
With adolescent MS on the rise in the Northwest, Carol Smith meets a young patient who is learning to live with the disease at the age of 16, and the doctors and scientists trying to keep her healthy.
Environment | October 2012
Clean Water: The Next Act
In 1972, Congress enacted legislation to end water pollution. Forty years later, American rivers and lakes are still badly contaminated, and new threats to clean water are outpacing the Act's enforcers. Follow along as InvestigateWest and EarthFix investigate.
Immigration | September 2012
Center of Detention
The Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., generates millions in revenue for its private operator by processing thousands of deportation cases each year. Oscar Estrada is one of those cases.
Environment | June 2012
Parks for Sale
As local governments trade away public parkland, the safeguards put in place by the Land and Water Conservation Fund to protect that land are full of holes.
Robert McClure tracked a handful of park conversions for more than three years, reviewed thousands of pages of documents and compiled a database of over 40,000 park grants.
Public Health | January 2012
The Prescription Epidemic
As Washington enacts the strongest prescription drug law in the country, InvestigateWest presents a six-month investigation into the origins of the prescription epidemic, the challenge it poses for communities, and what lessons other states might learn.
Check out the full list of news outlets publishing the story, and visit KCTS.org to watch Prescription for Abuse, a KCTS 9/InvestigateWest documentary and roundtable with prescription drug experts.