What’s next for Andy and Dee Hall, the retiring co-founders of Wisconsin Watch

Dee and Andy Hall. Photo by Narayan Mahon for Wisconsin Watch is used with permission.

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Andy and Dee Hall, co-founders of Wisconsin Watch. Wisconsin Watch was launched in 2009 as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. It’s nonprofit and nonpartisan, and it has grown a lot over the last 14 years. Andy is retiring on Dec. 31 of this year and is helping the new CEO, George Stanley, with the transition.

Dee Hall, co-founder and former managing editor of Wisconsin Watch, is also moving  on, and is now editor-in-chief of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom with a clear mission: Floodlight investigates “the powerful interests stalling climate action.” Floodlight partners with local and national journalists to co-publish collaborative investigations.

The podcast will resume after the holidays, and we fill in listeners in on events surrounding the launch of our book, “What Works in Community News,” which is coming out on Jan. 9. We’ll be talking about the book that night at 7 p.m. at Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Ellen has a Quick Take on Signal Ohio, a well-funded nonprofit news startup in Ohio that’s now expanding into Akron. We’ve worked with a Northeastern graduate student, Dakotah Kennedy (no relation to me), on this podcast who’s now a service journalism reporter for Signal Cleveland.

You can listen to our conversation here and subscribe through your favorite podcast app.

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Signal Ohio, a nonprofit startup, expands into Akron

Sunset in Akron, Ohio. Photo (cc) 2022 by Raymond Wambsgans.

Signal Ohio, a large, well-funded nonprofit news startup, is expanding into Akron. From the announcement:

Signal Ohio, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit news startups, launched Signal Akron today, its second newsroom in Ohio. The growing range of freely accessible journalism at SignalAkron.org will include accountability reporting and community resources. Stories already published include a deeper look at police accountability, the effects of the city’s efforts to set neighborhood boundaries, a column by local artists in Akron, and a guide to getting relief on utility bills.

“As we launch and continue to build Signal Akron, I’m excited to see our reporters include neighborhood voices and perspectives in their work. Our content will be driven by the community and the Akronites working in our Documenters program,” said Susan Kirkman Zake, editor-in-chief of Signal Akron.

Signal Ohio describes itself as “a network of independent, community-led, nonprofit newsrooms backed by a coalition of Ohio organizations, community leaders, and the American Journalism Project. With more than $15 million raised Signal is one of the largest local nonprofit news startups in the country with a growing network of newsrooms across Ohio.”

Akron, by the way, was home to The Devil Strip, a local arts and culture website that was at one time among the very few examples of a cooperatively owned local news organization. In 2021, The Devil Strip imploded in rather spectacular fashion, as Laura Hazard Owen reported at Nieman Lab. The legacy daily, the Akron Beacon Journal, is part of the Gannett chain.

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