WASHINGTON — ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, an initiative to boost investigative journalism in local newsrooms, announced today that Source New Mexico, an affiliate of States Newsroom, and its reporter Patrick Lohmann were selected as one of five new newsrooms and journalists to join their investigative network.

“We’re very proud to have Patrick and the Source New Mexico newsroom be a part of this excellent investigative reporting effort,” said Chris Fitzsimon, Director and Publisher of States Newsroom. “With smaller newsrooms and tighter budgets at the local level, it has become tougher for journalists to have the time and resources to conduct the long form accountability coverage on critical issues. We believe that no matter who you are or where you live, you need access to this kind of high-quality news, and initiatives such as this are making it possible to keep investigative journalism alive in the current environment.”

ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network will fund Lohmann’s salary and benefits while he works on his investigative journalism project. The project will begin on January 3, 2023.

Earlier this year, Pew Research Center cited States Newsroom and other nonprofit initiatives as key to filling the void in statehouse coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to Pew, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.

About States Newsroom

States Newsroom is the nation’s leading network of state-based, nonprofit news outlets with newsrooms in 31 states and content-sharing partnerships with other nonprofit news organizations in 8 additional states. States Newsroom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by the generous contributions of readers and philanthropists and committed to supporting fact-based, non-partisan news to the public at no cost and ad-free.

About ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network

ProPublica launched the Local Reporting Network at the beginning of 2018 to boost investigative journalism in local newsrooms. It has since worked with nearly 60 news organizations. The network is part of ProPublica’s local initiative, which includes offices in the Midwest, South and Southwest, plus an investigative unit in partnership with The Texas Tribune.

# # #