What is the Connecticut News Project? The Connecticut News Project, Inc. is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit news organization created to reinvigorate coverage of Connecticut's state government, public policy and politics. Our primary goal is to ensure that the people of the state are better informed about their government and its activities, so they can more effectively participate in the development of public policy and hold officials accountable for understanding and addressing the state's needs. We will achieve this goal through original and reliable reporting presented on our website, www.ctmirror.org, and distributed through various other platforms and technologies. We will report, analyze, explain, and investigate the activities of state government, reasserting the "watchdog" role of the media. CNP also intends to encourage and facilitate discussion and debate on public policy matters, to create an archive of documents and data about state government and to help train a new generation of journalists.
Why is the project needed? Years of declining revenues have forced most traditional news organizations in the state to cut back coverage in all areas, including government and public policy. One indicator is the number of reporters covering the state Capitol: In 1989, two dozen reporters representing most of the daily newspapers in the state covered the Capitol full time; today, fewer than a third remain. Another indicator is the news space allotted to this coverage, which also has declined with the size of newspapers overall. Meanwhile, the pressures and responsibilities of state governments everywhere have increased enormously.
Is CTMirror.org another blog? No. The Connecticut Mirror, at ctmirror.org, is a news site that aims to combine the best of traditional and contemporary media. We will use our years of experience in journalism to break new ground with significant original reporting on the big issues and ideas of the day. We also will use the immediacy and flexibility of the Internet to provide background and context, to connect with the best work others are doing and to deliver breaking news. In addition, being online will allow us to establish and build a library of past stories, databases, government and non-government reports, and original source documents, and to make that information easily accessible to our users. Finally, the Internet will allow us to encourage communication between Connecticut's residents and their public officials.
Are you competing with the other Connecticut media? Yes and no. Certainly every news organization wants to be first with the best story, and we're no different. If that competition invigorates news coverage, the public wins. But we also believe our ability to focus on government, politics and public policy reporting will complement the broader range of traditional media coverage. Far from being adversaries, we are forming partnerships with other organizations to reach the broadest possible audience.
How is the project financed? The project has received funding from a wide variety of foundations and individuals. The funding now in place will allow the project to operate at a base level for at least three years. We plan to increase funding from a variety of sources and to build a sustainable business model.
Who is on the staff?
News Staff
- Michael Regan, CNP editor. Mike is a former editor for the Hartford Courant, where he supervised coverage of topics including politics, education, health care, the courts, and the City of Hartford for more than 20 years. He oversaw major stories including the award-winning investigative work that led to the resignation of Governor John G. Rowland in 2004. A Connecticut native, he attended Syracuse University.
- Mark Pazniokas, CNP Capitol bureau chief. Mark is the former state politics writer for the Hartford Courant and a former contributing writer for The New York Times. In the course of more than 25 years as a reporter, he covered some of the most compelling stories in the state, including the impeachment inquiry and resignation of Governor John G. Rowland in 2004 and the nationally watched Senate race won by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman as an independent in 2006. He is a graduate of Boston University.
- Robert A. Frahm, CNP education reporter. Bob covered education for newspapers in Wisconsin and Connecticut for 36 years before retiring from the Hartford Courant. As the Courant's chief education writer, he covered topics such as testing, teacher quality, school reform, and school desegregation, including the Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit. He is a former board member and past president of the national Education Writers Association. Bob is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
- Jacqueline Rabe, Capitol reporter. Jacqueline has been a reporter, online editor and web site developer for The Washington Post Company's Maryland newspaper chains. She also has worked for Congressional Quarterly and the the Toledo Free Press. She is a graduate of Bowling Green State University.
- Keith M. Phaneuf, state Capitol reporter. Keith is the former state Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester. He has spent most of 21 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. A former contributing writer for The New York Times, Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.
- Deirdre Shesgreen is the former congressional correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she spent a decade writing about the Missouri and Illinois delegations. She has covered campaign finance, health care, and lobbying, and she is a two-time winner of the David Lynch Memorial Reporting Award for regional coverage of Congress. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Administration
- James A. Cutie, CNP chief operating officer. Jim's primary responsibility is to assure the long-term sustainability of the Project and identifying other potential partners and opportunities for growth. He has 35 years of general management, marketing, communications and fundraising experience in traditional and online media, including The New York Times. Jim founded a media consulting firm in Connecticut in 1997 and was a partner in Plum Holdings, L.P., an early stage media venture fund.
Who is on the Board of Directors?
- Julie Belaga. Ms. Belaga currently serves on the Boards of CT Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, National Audubon CT, and the Westport Public Library, and was Co-Chair of the CT League of Conservation and a co-founder of the CT League of Conservation Voters. A member of Governor Rell’s L. I. Sound Liquefied Natural Gas Task Force, she also served as the Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and as a member of the Board of the Import-Export Bank, appointed by President Bill Clinton. Ms. Belaga was the Republican candidate for Governor in 1986, having represented Westport from 1976 to 1986 in the CT House of Representatives.
- Marcia Chambers, MSL. Ms. Chambers is Research Scholar in Law and Journalist in Residence at Yale Law School. She has been a reporter for the Associated Press and The New York Times and a columnist for The National Law Journal, and she is now editor of the on-line news site, the Branford Eagle. She is a former member of the Poynter Advisory Board at Yale.
- William Cibes, Jr., PhD. Dr. Cibes was Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management under Governor Lowell Weicker (1991-1994) and Chancellor of the Connecticut State University System (1994-2006). While professor of government at Connecticut College (1969-1991), Cibes also served in the Connecticut General Assembly (1979-1991).
- Jeannette DeJesùs, MSW, MPA. Ms. DeJesùs is Executive Director of the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford and manages its six Centers of Excellence and research-based community projects. Previously, she was Executive Vice President of the National Conference for Community and Justice.
- Shelley Geballe, JD, MPH. Attorney Geballe is the founding President of CT Voices for Children and now its Distinguished Senior Fellow. A former civil rights attorney and founding member of Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), she currently teaches at Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health. Her publications include Forgotten Children of the AIDS Epidemic (Yale University Press, 1995).
- Robert Hohler. Mr. Hohler is Executive Director of the Melville Charitable Trust and 2009 recipient of the national Grantmaker of the Year Award from the Council on Foundations. He has also headed a consulting company focused on enhancing the effectiveness of non-profits, and he wrote and produced twenty film, radio, and TV programs, among many other endeavors over his long career. He currently serves on the National Film and Media Archive Advisory Board at Washington University in St. Louis.
What is the Board of Directors' role in defining CT Mirror's news coverage? None. Members of the board share a commitment to public service through their work in various non-profit and educational organizations. They also share a belief that vigorous coverage of government and public policy is essential to the common good. It is that belief, rather than commitment to any particular cause, that has led them to contribute their time and expertise to launching The Connecticut News Project. To ensure independence of the news operation, oversight of news coverage will be provided by a separate News Advisory Board.
Do you accept advertising? We will not accept advertising. However, we do seek sponsorships and underwriting. This is a great way of associating you and/or your company with the highly valuable service of providing news, information and knowledge to all Connecticut residents so they can make informed decisions that impact their communities, their families and themselves.
Can you really reach all Connecticut residents? Not by ourselves and not all on the first day. But with the help of distribution partners, other media, community groups and organizations and via a variety of platforms and technologies we think we can begin to deliver our content throughout Connecticut and reach the 3.5 million people who live in the urban, suburban and rural communities across Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, Tolland and Windham counties.
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