Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.

In 2009, we established ourselves as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent news outlet. Our mission since we started has been to produce reporting that fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Reporting fearlessly on broken systems and holding power to account remain core to who we are. But as we’ve grown dramatically in recent years, we began delivering other forms of journalism and partnering with others across the state. 

In collaboration with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, we launched News414, a texting project that delivers information to underserved Milwaukee neighborhoods. We opened a two-person statehouse bureau. We began collaborating with five other news outlets in Northeast Wisconsin to provide news through the NEW News Lab. We created short Fact Briefs to counter disinformation on social media.

Not everything we now produce is deep-dive investigative journalism. Thus the change. 

Since our founding, we have referred to ourselves by a number of names, including “Wisconsin Watch,” “Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism,” “WCIJ” and “the Center.” As we continue to grow, we want to use the Wisconsin Watch name consistently to avoid confusion as to who we are and to convey the breadth of what we do.

Wisconsin Watch will now be used exclusively on our website, our bylines, our logos and in our communications with you, our audience.

Our legal name, for the time being, will still remain Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ Inc.).

We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past 14 years. Last year our work was published or cited by more than 280 news organizations, and we had an estimated audience of 138 million readers. We won more than a dozen national, regional and statewide honors for our work in 2022 alone.

Your support makes Wisconsin Watch possible. Thank you for helping us continue to do it. Please consider making a donation of any size and become a member of Wisconsin Watch. 

Have questions or comments? Contact our audience director Kiran Saini at ksaini@wisconsinwatch.org 

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We will now only be known as Wisconsin Watch. Here’s why.

by Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
May 26, 2023

<h1>We will now only be known as Wisconsin Watch. Here’s why.</h1> <p class="byline">by Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch <br />May 26, 2023</p> <br /> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/WCIJ_Logo_NoParent_FullColor_RGB-1-782x249.png" alt="Wisconsin Watch logo" class="wp-image-1279371" /></figure> <p>In 2009, we established ourselves as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent news outlet. Our mission since we started has been to produce reporting that fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.</p> <p>Reporting fearlessly on broken systems and holding power to account remain core to who we are. But as we’ve grown dramatically in recent years, we began delivering other forms of journalism and partnering with others across the state.&nbsp;</p> <p>In collaboration with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, we launched <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/tag/news414/">News414</a>, a texting project that delivers information to underserved Milwaukee neighborhoods. We opened a two-person statehouse bureau. We began collaborating with five other news outlets in Northeast Wisconsin to provide news through the <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/tag/new-news-lab/">NEW News Lab</a>. We created short <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/series/fact-briefs/">Fact Briefs</a> to counter disinformation on social media.</p> <p>Not everything we now produce is deep-dive investigative journalism. Thus the change.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since our founding, we have referred to ourselves by a number of names, including “Wisconsin Watch,” “Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism,” “WCIJ” and “the Center.” As we continue to grow, we want to use the Wisconsin Watch name consistently to avoid confusion as to who we are and to convey the breadth of what we do.</p> <p>Wisconsin Watch will now be used exclusively on our website, our bylines, our <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/logos/">logos</a> and in our communications with you, our audience.</p> <p>Our legal name, for the time being, will still remain Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ Inc.).</p> <p>We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past 14 years. Last year our work was published or cited by more than 280 news organizations, and we had an estimated audience of 138 million readers. We won more than a dozen national, regional and statewide honors for our work in 2022 alone.</p> <p>Your support makes Wisconsin Watch possible. Thank you for helping us continue to do it. Please consider <a href="https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/donate/">making a donation of any size</a> and become a member of Wisconsin Watch.&nbsp;</p> <p>Have questions or comments? Contact our audience director Kiran Saini at ksaini@wisconsinwatch.org&nbsp;</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/05/we-will-now-only-be-known-as-wisconsin-watch/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org">Wisconsin Watch</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;quality=100&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1279358&amp;ga3=UA-17896820-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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