Center for Public Integrity adds four journalists to team

Four skilled journalists have joined the Center for Public Integrity as part of continuing efforts to broaden coverage areas, enhance data analysis and improve digital presentation.

The new hires come on the heels of a spate of additions last year, reflecting fresh investment in the Center’s journalism and new levels of interest in Washington-based investigative reporting. The positions have been made possible in part through support from the Knight Foundation, individual donors Laura and John Arnold, the Carnegie Corp. and the Democracy Fund.

“It’s gratifying to bring aboard four such talented individuals,” said Center for Public Integrity CEO John Dunbar. “All of them bring unique skills to the table and we’re excited to see them do some great journalism.”

Matt Stroud covers new military technology and the future of warfare for the Center for Public Integrity’s national security team. A former Associated Press correspondent and Bloomberg staff writer, Stroud’s work has been published in The New York Times, Harper’s, Businessweek, Esquire and BuzzFeed, among other outlets. He has been a runner-up for Investigative Reporters and Editors’ Tom Renner award, and written frequently for The Verge about police technology. His book “The High-Tech Cop” — which builds upon much of that reporting — will be published by Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt in 2019.

Rui Kaneya joined the state politics team after working as an investigative reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat, covering criminal justice, immigration and other social justice issues. He was also a correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review and the investigations editor at The Chicago Reporter. A recipient of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Minority Fellowship and the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Minority Fellowship in Urban Journalism, Kaneya has received numerous journalism awards, among them the Watchdog Award for Excellence in Public Interest Reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence National Media Award.

Pratheek Rebala has come aboard as a news developer for the Center’s growing data team after spending 3 ½ years as an interactive graphics intern in the D.C. bureau of Time magazine while simultaneously completing a degree in international affairs at George Washington University. He was previously the lead developer at The GW Hatchet.

Sameea Kamal is the Center’s new digital editor, coming from the digital team at the Los Angeles Times. She has previously reported for trade publications and on local government news in Southern California. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley and her master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

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