This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 15, 2011 - The Beacon is celebrating two new grants for coverage that is close to our hearts.
The Missouri Foundation for Health will continue its support for health reporting with a $100,000 grant this year. The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation will provide $75,000 for investigative reporting.
In both cases, the Beacon is committed not only to high-quality journalism in the traditional sense but to finding new ways to add impact to our work. We'll use online tools and in-person events to build understanding. And we'll organize information in ways designed to make it useful as you continue to access it over time.
Two examples already in the works indicate what we have in mind. In our Worlds Apart series, Beacon health reporter Robert Joiner looked at why some St. Louis neighborhoods suffer health problems of Third World proportions despite the city's world-class medical facilities.
Now, we're working on interactive graphics that present some of this important information in searchable form. We're also working on a video presentation of key findings. Both will give St. Louisans new ways to get a handle on complex health challenges and possible solutions.
With support from the health foundation, the Beacon will continue to probe the region's health challenges and to address timely questions related to health-care reform.
The grant for investigative reporting will expand our watchdog efforts in several ways. We'll bolster our staff work with additional data analysis and data visualization. We'll involve journalism students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and seek other collaborators to expand the scope of our work.
This special investigative funding will allow the Beacon to dig even deeper on matters of public trust and public policy and to deliver more news that matters to St. Louisans.
We look forward with great anticipation to the work that will be possible because of these two grants. And we're thrilled that these foundations, which are themselves leaders in their fields, have chosen to support the Beacon.