However it happens, the need for this perfect source to multiply—for more illumination on the flow of money into Michigan, and national, politics—remains pressing. “I can hardly recall a time when a citizen said they didn’t care, they didn’t need to know,” said Robinson. “But legislators are more accountable to funders who don’t want transparency. That’s the officeholder’s dilemma right now: the pull between citizens and anonymous funders. Right now, the funders are winning.”
United States Project
06:50 AM - July 16, 2012
In Michigan, a one-man follow-the-money machine
Rich Robinson helps the state’s journalists track political cash
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Social media in smaller markets - How three social media managers deal with smaller markets and more local coverage.
A rally for laid-off Sun-Times photogs - A protest Thursday morning drew about 150 picketers to the newspaper’s headquarters
Reporting, or illegal hacking - Scripps reporters are accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Exchange Watch: California Dreaming - Low healthcare premiums on the West Coast were trumpeted as a big, good-news Obamacare story. But: “Compared to what?”
The disappearance of ‘Sports of the Times’
We’re the Uber of organ transplants
“Millennials need organ transplants that fit easily into their always-connected lifestyles”
‘What part of “Politico” do you not understand?’
A conversation about the dark art of driving the conversation
Julian Assange’s asylum stalemate no nearer resolution one year on
The Ecuadorean embassy’s celebrity refugee is used to living in what Assange likens to a space station as he battles extradition
CJR’s panel discussion on coverage of gay marriage
On the eve of two related SCOTUS decisions, how should journalists be covering the issue?
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.

Now if we had someone like Robinson in every state, we might have a chance of figuring out exactly how much money is being spent to buy our elections, and by whom. I'm going to donate to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=383567634) and I recommend others do too. Michigan is just one state, but it's a microcosm of what is going on everywhere.
#1 Posted by Astraea, CJR on Mon 16 Jul 2012 at 08:25 AM