Santa Rosa Press Democrat launches investigative team

In far too many American newsrooms and media organizations, there has been a sharp decline in the number of journalists charged with keeping politicians and public agencies honest.

It’s easy to identify the causes: A dramatic drop in print advertising, economic uncertainty triggered by the COVID-19 health crisis and readers’ shift from ink-on-paper to smartphones and the digital space.

The results have been painful. Once-robust staffs have been stripped of resources. Jobs have been jettisoned; salaries frozen. And today, a diminishing number of newsrooms has the means to hold those in power to account.

Here at The Press Democrat, we’re taking a different approach.

I am proud to say we are expanding our content staff and launching a five-person investigative and enterprise reporting team.

It’s a rare, major investment at a time when many newsrooms are contracting.

We think it’s a bold move that’s essential to The Press Democrat’s desire to be the best newsroom of its size in the country and to position us for future readership and revenue gains.

But the greatest reason for this investment is our obligation to better serve the readers and communities of Sonoma County. That’s not just my opinion. It’s one shared by the leaders at Sonoma Media Investments, owner of The Press Democrat and six other publications and digital sites.

“I still believe in strong, meaningful community journalism,” says my boss, Steve Falk, our publisher and CEO. “Our priority since 2012 has been local news, but readers expect and deserve the additional benefit of strong watchdog journalism. As I’ve said before, quality journalism and profit go hand-in-hand.”

Darius Anderson, a Sonoma County-based lobbyist, developer and entrepreneur, and five local community leaders purchased The Press Democrat from Halifax Media Holdings in 2012. Earlier that year, Florida-based Halifax had bought The Press Democrat and 15 other regional newspapers from the New York Times Co. for $143 million.

The Times had owned The Press Democrat since 1985, when we were purchased from the Person family of Santa Rosa.

“We’ve all seen what’s unfolding in big and small newsrooms; those close to home and around the country. It’s a tough time for those staffs and those communities,” Anderson said.

“This investment sends a very clear signal The Press Democrat is committed to delivering serious journalism to Santa Rosa, Sonoma County and Northern California for the long haul.”

The creation of an investigative reporting team was a prominent conversation when Anderson, Falk and I met in January, as I was contemplating the opportunity to return to California (I was the top editor at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs a decade ago) and lead the talented Press Democrat newsroom.

I was impressed then, and even more so now, by the depth and determination of our staff to respond to breaking news and comprehensively cover our communities and key topics.

I also am grateful the size of the overall full-time newsroom staff has stayed the same since 2013, the year after SMI’s acquisition.

But I felt something was missing. I am a firm believer that now, more than ever, newsrooms like ours must pursue and publish hard-hitting, revelatory investigative journalism, compelling work that serves readers, subscribers and communities in even more consequential ways.

Adding these reporters to our staff, I believe, will reveal community and political shortcomings. We’ll go beyond those headlines, of course, and also provide solutions to those challenges.

Commitment to that kind of top-shelf reporting and storytelling separates us from other regional news sources and protects the interests of taxpayers, voters and our most vulnerable.

We’re building a team that will serve as community watchdogs — charged with uncovering information, decisions and backroom deals that politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and other influencers want to keep secret.

Fearless journalism that defends the First Amendment makes a difference and appeals to our greater sense of what is right, what is wrong and what is fair.

The five-person team began to take shape in late summer.

Staff Writer Martin Espinoza, a 17-year Press Democrat reporter, was promoted to senior investigations and enterprise reporter. Martin has spearheaded our monthslong coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and partnered with education writer Kaylee Tornay in June to break details of the Sonoma Academy teacher controversy that resulted in sweeping changes at the private school in Santa Rosa.

Last month, John D’Anna, an award-winning senior reporter and editor at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, joined us as senior news director overseeing investigations and enterprise. John and I worked together for more than three decades in the Gannett Co., which owns USA TODAY, The Republic and my previous newsroom, The Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.

He was involved in some of Arizona’s biggest stories over the past decade, including the 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on the proposed border wall, as well as the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson in 2011 and the Yarnell Hill fire, which killed 19 firefighters in 2013.

“From a young age, I always felt that someone needs to stand up to the people in power who try to rip us off, bully us or take advantage of those who can’t stand up for themselves,” John said. “It’s my calling, and that’s why I wanted to come to The Press Democrat. This is the kind of work we’re going to pursue, and I can’t think of anything more important.”

We’re now recruiting for three other investigative positions:

• A statehouse reporter, charged with covering California’s legislature, governor and public agencies and bureaus through the prism of Sonoma County. How are the decisions and actions unfolding in Sacramento affecting lives in the North Bay? It’s a position that will lean heavily on public documents, on-the-ground reporting and ensuring taxpayers’ dollars are spent properly.

• A business writer, to bring an investigative eye to our most important industries, public companies, developers and agencies overseeing everything from the environment to worker safety.

• A general assignment reporter, to zero in on Sonoma County governments, agencies and elected officials — from city councils and local utilities to school boards — while also working with other Press Democrat reporters. This reporter will serve as an advocate for our diverse population, local taxpayers, consumers, business owners, seniors, students and other everyday people whose lives intersect with public agencies and governments.

This initiative comes at an important time. It was late summer 2007 when those of us leading newsrooms began to feel the pangs of an economic meltdown. It worsened in 2008, and with it came tens of thousands of journalists whose careers were short-circuited because of layoffs, furloughs, buyouts and salary freezes.

I’ve always fought to preserve this important industry I love, which spawned dozens and dozens of painful conversations focused on newspaper economics, outdated business models and the quest for “synergies” to find savings in newsrooms. Too often, it meant professional and personal lives of unsuspecting journalists were turned upside down.

Sadly, that’s been the way of life for top editors in newsrooms — big and small — across America for nearly 15 years.

That’s not today’s headline. I am proud to trumpet the good news that The Press Democrat is hiring three more reporters to expand our commitment to investigative journalism for the communities and readers we serve in Sonoma County and the North Bay.

It’s not a silver bullet to the seismic challenges that still confront the media industry.

But for us here in Sonoma County, it certainly is a step in the right direction.

I believe local journalism matters, more today than ever before. I promise to keep you updated as we expand our staff and diligently pursue and publish the meaningful stories that you, our readers, deserve.

Thanks for your financial support and for reading The Press Democrat.

Richard Green is the editor for The Press Democrat. Email him at rick.green@pressdemocrat.com and follow him on Twitter: @EditorRAG