'It's imperative to offer a different perspective': Stephen Janis is Baltimore's alternative journalist

'It's imperative to offer a different perspective': Stephen Janis is Baltimore's alternative journalist

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Posted: 11/08/10 By: Rachel McAthy  http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/540019.php

He might beshadowing an apartment manager dealing with suspected drug dealers one day and discussing the policing of crime with veteran detectives the next. Everyday, Stephen Janis aims to be the journalist on the ground, covering crime and corruption stories missed by the mainstream. 

Janis is an award-winning investigative reporter in Baltimore and co-founder ofInvestigative Voice, a site dedicated to in-depth reporting and holding those in power to account. He is passionate about transforming a traditional craft by maximising its potential online. It is this approach, he told Journalism.co.uk, that gives his site an edge when it comes to competing with mainstream media... http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/540019.php

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-imperative-to-offer-different.html
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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Investigative Voice Stephen Janis: WHAT FUTURE BALTIMORE? — Of pools, politics and pensions

WHAT FUTURE BALTIMORE? — Of pools, politics and pensions

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 23:35

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SWIMMING IN THE CITY OF DISCONTENT

By Stephen Janis

Tell me I’m dreaming, but is it true the city that forked over $400 million to fund retirement payments and health benefits for city employees closed pools in early August during one of the hottest summers on record to save roughly $400,000 to $600,000?

Is it true?

I don’t know if I’m getting this right but did Baltimore City Council President Jack Young have to call a special session of the City Council and hold a news conference to push the Rawlings-Blake Administration to pay attention to an issue that should have been at the top of their agenda?

Did it really take the private sector's donating the money to keep our children cool in a city where taxpayer-funded take-home cars zoom out of state every night at the cost of millions of dollars every year?

Did I miss a meeting where it was decided that borrowing $300 million to build a downtown hotel that has yet to make money was a worthwhile use of taxpayer funds, but drawing down $400,000 from the rainy-day fund to improve the quality of life for the people who actually live here was not worth the risk to the city's credit rating?... http://www.investigativevoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5505:what-future-baltimore-of-pools-politics-and-pension&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=44

Investigative Voice Stephen Janis: WHAT FUTURE BALTIMORE? — Of pools, politics and pensions

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Stephan Janis: CRIME & PUNISHMENT RECONSIDERED — Stop saying crime is down

CRIME & PUNISHMENT RECONSIDERED — Stop saying crime is down

Wednesday, 28 July 2010 05:30

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http://investigativevoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5227:crime-a-punishment-reconsidered&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=44

IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY, TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL DYING
The politicians need to stop playing politics with crime statistics

THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT

AN INVESTIGATIVE VOICE EDITORIAL

By Senior Reporter Stephen Janis

That’s it, it’s over.

This week officially marks the proverbial final call for the mantra that seems to accompany every outbreak of violence.

Crime is down.

Even if it’s a statistical fact, the citizens of Baltimore don’t want to hear it.

Since Friday, seven people have been murdered including two overnight Monday as the city is reeling from the accounts of Johns Hopkins University researcher Stephen Pitcairn talking to his mother on a cellphone as he died from a vicious stab wound to the chest in Charles Village. http://investigativevoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5227:crime-a-punishment-reconsidered&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=44

Stephan Janis: CRIME & PUNISHMENT RECONSIDERED — Stop saying crime is down

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Sara Michael: MEDIA MAY 8 2009 Stephen Janis The Voice of Baltimore

Sara Michael: MEDIA MAY 8 2009 Stephen Janis The Voice of Baltimore

After his newspaper shut down, investigative reporter Stephen Janis started his own news website.

Sara Michael http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/the_voice_of_baltimore.php

Conversations with Stephen Janis are often interrupted by his cellphone. The former investigative reporter at the Baltimore Examiner newspaper never stops taking calls and meeting sources, and not even the newspaper's folding in February slowed him down. Having covered stories in Baltimore City like the murders of prostitutes and the arrest of a seven-year-old for sitting on a dirt bike, Janis can't stop now.

Perhaps he's become completely mired in the ills of the city; perhaps he is fully unemployable in any other field. But once laid off from the newspaper, he took his leads, his sources, and his obsession with unearthing the real story, and launched his own online news organization, Investigative Voice. After just two months, the website has broken stories that were picked up by the local television media.

Janis, a former contributing writer for the city's alternative weekly and a former record producer, was part of the original crew that launched the Baltimore Examiner, a free tabloid daily, in April 2006. The Examiner's short stories (most of them around 500 words) and sensational headlines (think "Bludgeoned!" and "Suburban Shocker") competed with the legacy Baltimore Sun newspaper, itself now a struggling rag. Janis covered stories others wouldn't touch, and made officials in the city government pay attention, picking up fans and enemies along the way. His stories on a city parking agent writing fake tickets led to an inspector general investigation, and his series on the mysterious death of activist and prominent businessman Robert Lee Clay prompted the FBI to reopen the case.

Even before the Baltimore Examiner folded on Feb. 15, Janis was planning Investigative Voice, and the site went live nine days after the last paper was printed. While the other laid-off reporters, including me, dusted off our résumés, my former colleague Janis was still meeting with sources. In the following interview, which has been edited for clarity, Janis talks about how he wrestles with having to play the competing roles of a businessman concerned with driving hits to the site and an investigative reporter obsessed with keeping tabs on crime and City Hall… http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/the_voice_of_baltimore.php

20090508 MEDIA Stephen Janis The Voice of Baltimore

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

The Investigative Voice

The Investigative Voice

Hat Tip: Bryan Sears – “Stephen Janis and Luke Broadwater, former Baltimore Examiner reporters, have started their own news site in the wake of the demise of their former paper….” (My hyperlinks to the staff page of the “Investigative Voice.”)

http://www.investigativevoice.com/

The web site is well designed, however the content is awesome.

20090308 The Investigative Voice

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/