Organizations Filed Purposes:
Be an instrument to produce, promote and defend investigative journalism and the public's right to access information.
THE JOURNALISM The CPI has been a key player in the production, promotion, and defense of investigative journalism and the public's right to access information not just in Puerto Rico, but across the Americas. Our work has contributed to efforts to hold those in power accountable. As a strategy to achieve our objectives, we join forces with media partners in Puerto Rico, the U.S.mainland, and with journalists in the Caribbean. We started 2020 covering the effects of the numerous earthquakes and aftershocks that occurred on the south end of Puerto Rico. From there, we jumped into a state of emergency prompted by COVID-19 while still in the midst of recovery from Hurricane María. Then we delved into in-depth coverage of the 2020 election in Puerto Rico. Our investigations have produced significant publications about health issues, the governmental approach to COVID-19, education, governmental corruption, the use of funds assigned for the hurricane María, and the election process. Due to our work, we received awards and recognitions in 2020: Nieman Fellows' Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism; seven awards from Overseas Press Club of Puerto Rico in different categories; the Investigative Journalism award from Puerto Rico Journalists Association for the 2019 investigation that revealed the Telegram chat and Ricardo Rosselló's government corruption scheme, and in the Multimedia category for an investigation, in collaboration with Metro, on the flagrant violations of the civil rights of mental health patients.
TRANSPARENCY AND LITIGATION Our Transparency program advances our mission of providing access to information and transparency intended to have more knowledgeable citizens that are capable of holding the powerful accountable. The Transparency Team works with the support of the Legal Clinic of the Inter-American University School of Law including litigation when necessary. As a result of our work in 2020, the Government had to release a report about an abandoned warehouse of emergency supplies, and make public the database information about mortality from 2008 to 2020. We obtained a list of bridges still vulnerable from the Highways and Transportation Authority despite being reopened after hurricane Maria. From the Education Department, we received information including a list of schools closed, the Inspections of the school's infrastructure; the current fiscal year budget; and the names of the firms hired for the annual audits. Furthermore, an FOIA request submitted to FEMA has produced thousands of documents about the natural disaster recovery process.
JOURNALISM TRAINING INSTITUTE Since 2015 the Institute provides professional education opportunities for journalism students and professionals with a focus on investigative journalism. The program has a mentorship program with a network of investigative journalists in the Caribbean. The workshops are on specialized beats such as the environment, the economy, data management, or chronicles. The Institute also organizes panels and seminars for the general community about access to information or about our investigation projects. In 2020 we held workshops, webinars, and masterclasses. The Institute hosted the first IRE Watchdog Workshop in Puerto Rico with 40+ attendees. We offered two Masterclasses, Journalism is not a Crime featured Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist, and Bankruptcy, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Pandemic, and Elections: the Economic Outlook of Puerto Rico after 2020. The webinars were on topics about access to information for citizens and for journalists; a series of three webinars, First Aid Kit for Journalists: Resources for COVID-19; and digital tools for journalists to examine, What is happening to the environment while we are quarantined and how to figure it?
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Carla M Santos | Executive Director | 40 | $0 |
| Oscar Serrano | Founder Member | 10 | $0 |
| Omaya Sosa | Founder Member | 35 | $0 |
| Janice Petrovitch | Chair | 1 | $0 |
| Daisy Sanchez | Chair | 1 | $0 |
| Efren Rivera | Chair | 2 | $0 |
| Patricia Gutierrez | Chair | 1 | $0 |
| Carlos E Ramos | Secretary | 3 | $0 |
| Judith Berkan | Treasurer | 2 | $0 |
| Luis Guardiola | Vice-President | 1 | $0 |
| Carlos Rodriguez | President | 3 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202101369349301605_public.xml