AZCIR awarded renewed funding from Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation

PHOENIX — The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit investigative newsroom that focuses on statewide accountability reporting, has received a second round of funding from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

The $100,000 grant will help AZCIR continue its data analysis service for partner newsrooms while growing the Center’s capacity to produce multimedia-rich content across media platforms.

AZCIR is the state’s only nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide accountability journalism. The Center’s mission is to become a hub for original and collaborative investigative reporting, working with newsrooms in Arizona and the Southwest to produce in-depth coverage on important public policy issues.

“This second round of funding will help us continue doing journalism that matters in Arizona,” said Brandon Quester, AZCIR’s executive director and editor. “We’re incredibly thankful to have such generous support and we look forward to expanding our role as an independent voice in Arizona’s media landscape.”

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation is based in Oklahoma City and has provided startup funding for investigative journalism nonprofits across the U.S. It’s mission is to “invest in the future of journalism by building the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information.” It was established in 1982 by the late Edith Kinney Gaylord, a pioneering female journalist who was the first woman to work as a general news reporter for the Associated Press.

In addition to Quester, AZCIR’s board members include Paula Casey, executive director of the Arizona Newspapers Association, Stephen K. Doig, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and Knight Chair in Journalism professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Josh Hoffner, the Southwest News Editor for the Associated Press.

A Journalism Advisory Committee also supports AZCIR’s efforts and is chaired by Leonard Downie Jr., vice president at large of The Washington Post, where he served as executive editor from 1991 to 2008, and Weil Family Professor of Journalism at the Cronkite School. Other committee members include newsroom professionals and educators from throughout Arizona.

In addition to the $100,000 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation grant, AZCIR has received project grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in coordination with Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Investigative Reporters and Editors and Google Ideas, the Harnisch Foundation, and individual donations.