First local news effort of acclaimed nonprofit media organization launches at critical time
The inaugural team journalists who will be reporting on the Cuyahoga County justice system, including those who are most affected by it includes, from left, Marlon Walker, Jim Crutchfield, Mark Puente, Cid Standifer and Stan Donaldson Jr. Photo credits, from left: MARLON WALKER; KEN LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY; LOS ANGELES TIMES STAFF; CID STANDIFER; MARVIN FONG
The Marshall Project, the Pulitzer-winning nonprofit media organization covering criminal justice, announced last week the launch of its first local news operation, in Cleveland.
The Marshall Project – Cleveland aims to expose abuses in Cuyahoga County’s criminal justice system, through investigative, data and community engagement journalism supported by The Marshall Project’s national newsroom. The Cleveland news operation will serve local audiences, including people directly affected by the criminal justice system, who are often neglected or mischaracterized in media coverage. The newsroom plans to distribute its work inside prisons and jails in Ohio, too.
The Project comes to Cleveland at an especially pivotal time. Among developments on the horizon, the scheduled expiration of the City of Cleveland-US Department of Justice consent decree, the hiring of a new police chief for the city, and a potential breakthrough for the long-standing agitation for the development of a sentencing database that might reduce the perceived disparities in the administration of the county's criminal justice system.
The Marshall Project’s Cleveland newsroom will be led by veteran journalist Jim Crutchfield, recently named editor-in-chief, and managing editor-local, Marlon A. Walker, who is overseeing the local network expansion.
“Cleveland is one of our country’s richest cities in terms of history and culture, but also a city where the criminal justice system clearly needs to be further examined,” said Walker in a statement announcing the news team.
The newsroom’s roster of award-winning journalists includes some with deep ties to the Cleveland area, including:
• Stan Donaldson Jr. joins The Marshall Project as a staff writer and will lead Cleveland community engagement reporting efforts. He spent a decade in newsrooms, including The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, where he won several awards for his reporting. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Donaldson joins The Marshall Project from his alma mater, Norfolk State University, where he has served as the director of media relations and the president’s speechwriter.
• Cid Standifer joins The Marshall Project as staff writer. She has more than a decade of newsroom experience, and has written for The Plain Dealer, Belt Magazine, Cleveland Scene, Eye on Ohio and The Washington Post. Prior to moving to Cleveland, she covered the military for Stars and Stripes, Military Times, Inside the Navy and USNI News. Standifer has a master's degree in African history from Emory University and a bachelor's degree in history and physics from Grinnell College.
• Mark Puente will lead investigations as a staff writer for the Cleveland operation. Puente, a former truck driver, has nearly 20 years in journalism and an outstanding track record in accountability reporting. He has worked for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, The Baltimore Sun, The Tampa Bay Times and The Los Angeles Times. Puente’s investigative reporting in Cleveland forced former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald T. McFaul to resign and plead guilty to various crimes in 2010. Puente, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, joined The Marshall Project on June 6.
“Our group of outstanding reporters will be equipped with the invaluable resources and knowledge of The Marshall Project’s award-winning national newsroom, while based here in Cleveland, where they are committed to covering criminal justice that serves the local community in Cuyahoga County,” Crutchfield said.
As part of its community outreach, the Project’s Cleveland operation will work to get its journalism behind bars in Ohio. The national Marshall Project distributes News Inside in more than 770 prisons and jails across the United States.
To round out its Cleveland news operation, the Project intends to hire an Outreach Manager whose focus will be expanding the distribution of its magazine and its accompanying video series, Inside Story, in Ohio prisons and jails.
Similar to its methodology with Testify, its earlier investigation into Cuyahoga County’s court system, the Project will survey residents to understand what they need to know about their system and incorporate their perspectives.
The Marshall Project – Cleveland is supported by the American Journalism Project, the George Gund Foundation, the Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, Marshall Project founding board member Fred Cummings, and others.
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