Spotlight PA is pleased to partner with the newsroom NOTUS to bring high-quality accountability journalism about Pennsylvania’s Washington delegation to readers across the commonwealth.
NOTUS announced today that it is expanding the Washington Bureau Initiative, a program where political reporting from its Washington newsroom is co-published with local outlets across the country to ensure that leaders are held accountable by constituents at home.
NOTUS reporting from Congress, the White House, and key federal agencies will be made available to a select group of 13 publications, including Spotlight PA, which were chosen because they’re highly collaborative, independent, and in close touch with their communities.
“Spotlight PA delivers critical accountability reporting about Pennsylvania's state government to our readers across the commonwealth. I’m thrilled our partnership with NOTUS will help cover our elected officials in Washington just as rigorously,” said Sarah Anne Hughes, deputy editor of Spotlight PA.
Each local newsroom involved in NOTUS’ Washington Bureau Initiative invests financially to help cover some reporting costs. Spotlight PA’s participation was made possible by a generous grant from the Berks County Community Foundation.
Other new Washington Bureau Initiative newsrooms are:
Mississippi Today from Deep South Today
And NOTUS will continue to collaborate with our existing newsroom partners:
Verite News from Deep South Today
Two California-based news organizations in the NEWSWELL portfolio: Times of San Diego & Stocktonia
The Assembly, based in North Carolina
THE CITY, based in New York City
“Readers can trust NOTUS to tell stories that other outlets are not focused on as they play out in Washington and across the country, and public officials know that our reporters’ work will also appear in local outlets that their voters read,” said Lissandra Villa de Petrzelka, an editor at NOTUS who works closely with partner newsrooms.
NOTUS’ Washington Bureau Initiative is also supported by major philanthropic contributions from The Allbritton Foundation, Arnold Ventures, Google News Initiative, The Schmidt Family Foundation, The Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, The Posner Foundation, and the Sandpiper Fund.
In less than a year, the Washington Bureau Initiative has informed voters across the country about key political and policy initiatives that affect their day-to-day lives. Examples include:
Trump Said He’s Just ‘Starting With D.C.’ Democrats Who Run Other Cities Worry They’re Next.
FEMA botched the Katrina response. Many who were there still say the agency is critical.
Trump’s Homeland Security Council Sets Its Sights on Zohran Mamdani
About Spotlight PA:
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom dedicated to high-quality investigative and public-service journalism about the Pennsylvania state government and urgent statewide issues. We were founded as a bold, collaborative answer to the rapid and significant decline of corporate-owned, for-profit media in our state, resulting in drastically reduced coverage of issues vital to Pennsylvanians.
For media inquiries, contact Chris Baxter: cbaxter@spotlightpa.org.
About NOTUS:
NOTUS is a newsroom like no other: a mix of veteran reporters and editors working with some of the country’s most promising up-and-coming reporters — individuals from different regions, different backgrounds, and different beliefs who have come to Washington as fellows at the Allbritton Journalism Institute.
Together, we cover government and politics with the fresh eyes of newcomers and the expertise of veterans. We call it like we see it, no matter whose narrative it fits or how many clicks it will get.
About AJI:
The Allbritton Journalism Institute is a nonprofit educational organization launched in 2023 by Robert Allbritton, the former publisher of Politico. AJI trains aspiring journalists from across the country through a mix of classroom instruction and real-world experience reporting for NOTUS, the political news outlet AJI launched in January 2024.
For media inquiries, contact Justin Peligri: justinpeligri@notus.com