As a reader of The Frontier, you’re probably familiar with the basic reasons our work matters. We keep Oklahomans informed. We tell important stories that would otherwise go untold. We hold powerful institutions to account.
However, readers may not realize the tangible benefits.
In recent years, a growing body of academic research has found local investigative journalism produces measurable public benefits. In a 2020 study, researchers found that cities pay millions more each year on average when there is no local news outlet keeping officials accountable. In those communities, government wages rise, deficit spending increases, and municipalities pay higher interest rates to borrow money because of the lack of oversight. These costs are ultimately borne by taxpayers. Separately, a 2024 study found that the closure of a local newspaper is associated with roughly a 7 percent increase in federal corruption cases brought against local officials.
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This year, that support made it possible for us to uncover new details about an
embezzlement scheme at Tulsa Public Schools and to examine whether district leaders knew about the misconduct or could have stopped it before it was reported to law enforcement. A forensic audit found that tens of millions of dollars were spent in violation of district policies, creating the conditions that allowed a senior administrator to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for students and teachers.
I also reported on the city’s expanding use of license-plate reader cameras, an expensive surveillance system deployed with little evidence of its effectiveness. When I filed an open records request for where the cameras are located, the Tulsa police department denied the request.
Research suggests this kind of resistance is more common where local journalism is weaker. A 2025 study found that states with fewer newspapers per capita were significantly more likely to deny or ignore public-records requests.
Private corporations also behave differently when journalists aren’t watching. A 2022 study found that after a local newspaper closes, nearby facilities commit more violations and face higher penalties, including for workplace safety, environmental rules, labor law, fraud, and discrimination because of the lack of accountability.
This year, my colleague Ari Fife and I reported on an immigrant worker’s death at a poultry plant in Heavener after the facility had received repeated complaints from workers who raised safety concerns. Before our story, there had been little or no reporting on this sizable community of workers in eastern Oklahoma, many of them immigrants, since 2012.
Our work on organized crime and worker exploitation in Oklahoma’s marijuana industry has won statewide and regional awards and placed in several national competitions. I have continued that work, reporting on how weak enforcement has allowed farms with alleged links to organized crime to keep operating with state-issued licenses. In September, U.S. lawmakers from both political parties called for stronger federal action against illicit marijuana farms in Oklahoma and cited our reporting during a congressional committee hearing.
