Christopher Baxter: With Spotlight PA, a team of investigative reporters hold the powerful to account in Harrisburg

There’s nothing short of a crisis in our state capital.

Every year, more of Pennsylvania’s sprawling and costly bureaucracy operates without scrutiny from investigative reporters, the watchdogs tracking how our hard-earned tax dollars are spent, ensuring the vulnerable are protected, and demanding answers from lawmakers about waste, fraud and abuse.

Together, we can restore accountability.

I’m proud to introduce you to Spotlight PA, an ambitious, statewide and reader-funded newsroom based in Harrisburg with the mission of holding the powerful in Pennsylvania to account through hard-hitting investigative journalism.

Spotlight PA is an unprecedented collaboration born of the grit and determination that makes our state great, and it now provides high-quality, state government reporting for free to 46 newsrooms across Pennsylvania. And we continue to grow.

Today, we’re excited to celebrate an expansion of our reach and coverage in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania via a new partnership with TribLIVE/ Tribune-Review.

We are able to provide this journalism to you and your neighbors thanks to our growing community of individual supporters across Pennsylvania who want more accountability reporting from Harrisburg. And now we need your help.

High-quality journalism that calls out injustice and holds the powerful to account is more important in Pennsylvania than ever. Join the movement and support our ability to provide this journalism to you by making a tax-deductible donation at spotlightpa.org/donate.

The formation of Spotlight PA in September marked the single largest expansion of the statehouse reporting corps in Pennsylvania in recent history. Our newsroom is now the largest statewide operation and the only one dedicated to producing accountability journalism about the state government and urgent statewide issues.

Our journalists are assigned to cover specific state departments, commissions and agencies, as well as topics of statewide importance. Many of these areas have gone without serious scrutiny from the press for years. Spotlight PA reporters have the time, resources, and mandate to be fearless in their pursuit of the truth.

Far from just providing the news, we intend to connect and engage with you through innovative digital storytelling, creative partnerships, community events and more.

Initial financial support for Spotlight PA comes from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the nonprofit owner of The Inquirer, and a unique coalition of state and national funders that recognize the importance Harrisburg has on their communities, from Erie to Scranton, Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

They also know and agree that our work must be independent and free from influence. Spotlight PA retains full editorial control, and our funders have no say whatsoever in which stories we pursue or how we pursue them.

Spotlight PA was formed to serve you, the public, and we want you to be a part of our efforts. Many of the best investigations start with a call or email from a concerned reader. If you have tips or suggestions for an investigation, please visit spotlightpa.org/tips to see the various secure ways you can communicate with our team.

The future of our state depends on Pittsburgh’s revival and the success of the rest of Western Pennsylvania. Likewise, the future of the region rests, in part, on those in power in Harrisburg setting the agenda. And yet, despite that interdependence, Pittsburgh receives less news and information from Harrisburg than ever.

Through our new partnership with TribLIVE/Tribune-Review, we intend to reverse that trend and restore accountability coverage from the capital. After all, the people of Western Pennsylvania deserve no less. Together, we can hold the powerful to account.

Christopher Baxter is the editor in chief of Spotlight PA.