It’s a great day for the citizens of our region. Today, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University has a new partner, the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. For several months, we have been working with John Christie, the recently-retired publisher of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, to help him establish a center similar to ours. As John notes on his website’s homepage: http://pinetreewatchdog.org,: “In recent years, most newspaper and broadcast news outlets in Maine have reduced newsroom staffs through layoffs, early retirements and attrition. One of the ?rst victims is in-depth journalism — stories which often take one or more reporters “off the street” for weeks or even months. Serious coverage of the electoral and legislative process has also suffered. In Maine, statehouse coverage has declined from about 20 year-round reporters in 1989 to 10 in 1999 to the current ?ve.”

Unfortunately, those words can be written about every New England state. While the numbers vary, the main point is the same. The future of serious, in-depth investigative reporting in New England is in jeopardy. That’s why we launched NECIR-BU a year ago this week and that’s why we’re working with reporters in the other five New England states to support efforts to create nonprofit investigative reporting centers. We’re part of a movement to ensure the survival of watchdog journalism. It’s no exaggeration to say that without watchdog reporting democracy is at risk. The beneficiaries of this movement are the citizens of New England, who deserve to have reporters working on their behalf to hold the powerful accountable.