Goldwater Institute adds reporter watchdog

PHOENIX _ Everything in Mark Flatten’s office says investigative reporter, from stacks of paper on the desk to sources’ contact information scribbled next to the phone to a hand-held tape recorder and headphones beside the computer.

Flatten pores over government records looking for spurious relationships and draws on his 28 years of reporting experience to get information from government officials, business owners and citizens.

"I’m an investigative reporter: a finder of fact," Flatten said plainly, "fair, accurate, not skewing things, telling it like it is."

This work is nothing new for Flatten, who spent much of his career at the Daily News-Sun’s, East Valley Tribune, the last six as an investigative journalist.

What’s new is the type of organization he reports for. In June, Flatten left the Tribune to become the sole investigative reporter for the Goldwater Institute, a nonprofit advocacy and government watchdog group that like its namesake promotes limited government and free market values.

With mainstream journalism organizations scrambling to stay relevant and profitable, the Goldwater Institute is taking on a role traditionally held by newspapers and local broadcast outlets. It engages in high-profile battles for government openness, looks critically at public officials and now, with Flatten on board, is getting ready to release investigative projects.

Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., said the Goldwater Institite and other non-traditional outlets offer a preview not only of the future journalism landscape but of journalism as a career.

"There are a lot of experienced journalists, both investigative and otherwise, who are out on the streets due to the cuts newspapers have made," Edmonds said. "At the same time, a number of efforts are being made that combine nonprofit groups and philanthropists to fund them."

Organizations like ProPublica, Voice of San Diego and MinnPost have gained national attention by leading the way for nonprofit journalism organizations.

The Goldwater Institute hired Flatten with a grant from the State Policy Network, a national nonprofit organization that helps free market-oriented, state-focused advocacy groups practice journalism. His first report, which he said would be ready to publish in September, digs into how cities award private contracts.