Inside the Newsroom

The award fuels expanding Digital Democracy to give people more power over state government across the nation.

The award recognizes the best U.S. professional reporting on state government accountability, across all media types.

The documentary, “Operation Return to Sender,” investigated the immigration forces carrying out the first raids of the mass deportation campaign.

The American Society of Magazine Editors named CalMatters’ investigation, “The Man Who Unsolved a Murder” as a finalist in the public interest category. Winners will be announced in May.

The Toner Prizes, awarded by the Newhouse School, recognize the best political reporting and are named after Robin Toner, the first woman to hold the position of national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Dave Lesher turned CalMatters into one of California’s most influential newsrooms — and launched new tools to make your government transparent

The reporting “speaks volumes about the role that public defenders play in maintaining the integrity of the whole system, not just in defending their clients.”

Californians can now easily follow what their state representatives say and do each week, as the Legislature considers about 5,000 bills before adjourning in August.

In 2025, CalMatters’ and The Markup’s reporting prompted lawmakers to introduce eight new bills, agencies to take action, companies to change their practices and constituents to contact their representatives.

CalMatters produced a nonpartisan voter guide for the Prop. 50 special election, and brought it to more readers across the state thanks to newsroom partners.