Flat-fee contracts don’t require documentation of work, raise questions about equity in circuit with high population of at-risk youth.
“When budget cuts and feuds dominated the local judicial circuit, Report for America Corps member Jabari Gibbs immediately spotted potential problems as the district attorney abandoned juvenile cases across five counties. Investigative Editing Corps Editor Ken Foskett worked with us to focus on the stories affecting some of the youngest and most vulnerable people in the court system. He managed the reporting and editing for a story that revealed that unelected attorneys were acting as prosecutors with little oversight. He and Jabari worked as a team, adding muscle to our small but scrappy newsroom to give insight into problems that are only going to grow. IEC has been a lifeline for us, helping us grow as an accountability newsroom and helping citizens understand what’s happening with their elected representatives.”
-Susan Catron
Managing editor | The Current GA
Editor: Ken Foskett
Ken Foskett teaches investigative reporting to early career journalists in the master’s
degree program for investigative journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. As a visiting professor at
Cronkite’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, Foskett leads students in
reporting, writing and publishing investigations that meet professional standards and
follow Cronkite’s teaching-hospital methodology of learning. Foskett’s professional
career spanned 32 years at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta, where he
published award-winning work as both a reporter and editor. He is president emeritus of
the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, past chair of the Atlanta Press Club and
holds board positions at both organizations. He is the author of Judging Thomas: The
Life and Times of Clarence Thomas (William Morrow, 2014) and lives in metropolitan
Atlanta.
Top image: Katherine Silvia For The Current GA