It’s time to do some digging.
That was the task assigned to Enquirer reporter Alex Coolidge after nine protesters were arrested in front of Kroger headquarters in downtown Cincinnati on Sept. 23. After weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations over Kroger coming up short on its pledge to sell only cage-free eggs by 2025, some of the protesters that day chained themselves to the doors, blocking access to the building. None of the nine arrested were from the Cincinnati area.
The escalation gave us a chance to assess what we knew – and what we didn’t know – about Los Angeles-based Animal Equality, one of the groups behind the protests. Where do they get their funding? Why are they currently targeting Kroger when other major grocers such as Walmart
and Target also have found it cost-prohibitive to source only cage-free eggs? How does Kroger’s percentage of cage-free eggs compare with its competitors’? So Coolidge went to work – over the weekend, I might add, because a certain editor wanted the story to be ready when protests resumed this week.
In a report you can only find in The Enquirer, Coolidge revealed that Animal Equality generated $6 million in revenue last year. Paid staff coordinate the protests, organizing a reported 14,000 volunteers. One of Animal Equality’s major contributors is San Francisco-based nonprofit Coefficient Giving, founded by Cari Tuna, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and her husband, Dustin Moskovitz, a cofounder of Facebook estimated by Forbes to be worth $9 billion.
Digging deep is something our reporters do well. But we haven’t always done the best job of letting you know when you’re reading a story that’s exclusive to The Enquirer. So we’ve taken a step to fix that.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve started flagging our scoops and other revelatory reporting with a simple label: “EXCLUSIVE.” Here are some recent examples:
City Hall reporter Scott Wartman reviewed campaign finance reports for his story on the city’s plans to require parking lot owners to install security cameras after an increase in car break-ins, a growing number of which involve handguns. Why were those reports relevant? One of the largest parking lot operators, Chavez Properties, has been meeting with elected leaders, effectively slowing down the effort. Thanks to Scott’s digging, Enquirer readers know the Chavez family has made campaign donations to Mayor Aftab Pureval and other City Council members.
Mia Hilkowitz, who covers Butler County, revealed the backstory on why the city of Hamilton’s plans to build a massive data center expected to draw $1 billion in investment fell apart. Spoiler alert: The scope of the project quickly exceeded the city’s ability to support it.
Enquirer Statehouse reporter Laura Bischoff broke the news that Ohio had once again fallen behind in tracking sexual assault data collected by law enforcement agencies. In an exclusive follow-up story, Bischoff reported that Attorney General Andy Wilson created a task force to find out why.
If you value distinctive, local reporting and don’t want to miss it, keep an eye out for that EXCLUSIVE label. Here are more ways you can stay in the know:
Download our smartphone app. It’s free, and you can sign up for alerts based on the topics that interest you most.
Subscribe to The Enquirer’s Daily Briefing newsletter or our NKY Briefing. They’re also free.
And of course, please consider becoming an Enquirer subscriber if you’re not already supporting our efforts to bring you vital, independent local journalism. Subscribers get full access to all our reporting – especially those exclusives.
As always, I welcome your feedback and story ideas. Where should we dig next?
Enquirer Executive Editor Beryl Love writes a biweekly column that takes you behind the scenes at The Enquirer. Occasionally, he shares his thoughts on local issues, particularly as they pertain to a free press and open government. Email him at blove@enquirer.com. He can’t respond personally to every email, but he reads them all.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: We dig deep on the stories that matter most | From the editor
