Bridge Michigan is a

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

-based

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, nonpartisan news organization founded in 2011 that focuses on

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

. It is headquartered in

Ypsilanti Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north ...

, Michigan and has offices in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

History

The Center for Michigan, founded by Philip and Kathy Power and a

bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing Political party, politica ...

steering committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

, hired John Bebow as an

investigative reporter Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend ...

in 2006. For the

2010 Michigan gubernatorial election The 2010 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm and lieutenant governor John D. Cherry were prohibited by the state's Constitution from seeking a third term. This result ...

, the center created the Michigan Truth Squad and a year later, launched Bridge Magazine based on the existing Truth Squad. By 2018,

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

began to partner with Bridge Michigan. For the

2018 Michigan gubernatorial election The 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Michigan, concurrently with the 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan, election of Michigan's Classes of United States Senators, C ...

, Bridge Michigan organized a Truth Squad to monitor the comments made by candidates at the time. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the American state of Michigan were discovered on March 10, 2020, one day before the outbreak of the disease was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of December 20, ...

, Bridge Michigan partnered with ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' and

Chalkbeat Chalkbeat is a non-profit news organization that covers education in several American communities. Its mission is to "inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep, local coverage of ed ...

to track $6 billion of federal funding for education in Michigan.

Reception

''The Blade'' described Bridge Michigan as "a well-regarded online publication that covers state issues". In 2017, Bridge Michigan and reporter Chastity Pratt Dawsey were awarded during

The Matrix Awards The Matrix Awards is an annual awards ceremony held bNew York Women in Communications It started in 1970 to honor exceptional women in the fields of arts, advertising, entertainment, film, television, theater, books, broadcasting, magazines, news ...

the "Vanguard Award" for ''Poison on Tap'', that the ''

Michigan Chronicle The ''Michigan Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-Ameri ...

'' described as "the first comprehensive book about the

Flint water crisis The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis from 2014 to 2019 which involved the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan, being contaminated with lead and possibly ''Legionella'' bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, ...

". In 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Bridge Michigan won multiple awards, including the "Weekly/News Media Publication Class A Newspaper of the Year" as part of the Michigan Press Associations ''Better Newspaper'' awards. For the ''2018 MPA Better Newspaper'', Bridge Michigan also won "The Best FOIA Story Award" for a report on how the Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

's officials worked beside

Enbridge Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline transport, pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and n ...

lobbyists and employees to promote Enbridge Line 5 after reviewing emails revealed upon a

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

request. In the ''2021 MPA Better Newspaper Contest'', Bridge Michigan won "The Best FOIA Story Award" for its reporting that law enforcement officials, specifically Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, attempted to assist

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

with his

attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election After Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented ...

References

2011 establishments in Michigan American news websites Internet properties established in 2011 Mass media in Michigan Non-profit organizations based in Michigan Ypsilanti, Michigan {{news-website-stub

History

Reception

See also

References