This week the Kansas Policy Institute announced the launch of KansasReporter, a news service covering Kansas government. Combined with some other relatively new sources of news, analysis, and commentary — Kansas Liberty, Kansas Watchdog, State of the State, Kansas and a few older sources like Kansas Meadowlark and Voice For Liberty in Wichita — Kansans should be better-equipped to know what’s going on in our state, and to become more involved in our state and local governments.
Following is its press release.
KansasReporter launches online news service
Topeka, Kan., Dec. 9 – KansasReporter is pleased to announce the December 9 launch of its state capital news bureau.
KansasReporter is an online news service providing original reporting on Kansas government. The state capital bureau in Topeka is staffed by two full-time, experienced journalists. Their work will be published online at and accessible for everyone to read. It is also available as a free “wire service” to all media outlets.
KansasReporter is a project of Kansas Policy Institute. KPI President Dave Trabert says, “We launched this service to help fill a void created by the unfortunate reduction in media resources devoted to state government news coverage. The closing of Harris News Service’s Topeka bureau earlier this year and other cutbacks have reduced information available to citizens and media outlets outside the Topeka area at a critical time. The mission is to ensure that government is held accountable to all Kansans and to examine issues from all sides. We recognize that being founded by a public policy organization raises legitimate questions of balance. The purpose of KansasReporter is not to promote a particular viewpoint but to provide vigorous and credible reporting on all sides of stories. We encourage readers to hold us accountable to our mission and welcome their constructive criticism.”
Brian R. Hook leads the coverage as bureau chief. He will oversee editing and also report on a daily basis. With more than 15 years of journalism experience, he worked as a freelance journalist for the last ten years. He reported for dozens of publishers, including Financial Times, Dow Jones, McGraw-Hill, Kiplinger’s and U.S. News & World Report. He started his career in TV news at KAKE-TV in Wichita, before moving to Oklahoma City and then to St. Louis, helping to launch a new, prime-time newscast at KTVI.
Gene Meyer is the new reporter for KansasReporter.org. Meyer spent 25 years reporting for the Kansas City Star. While at the Star he reported and co-wrote a series of stories regarding Kansas pension fund investment practices that led to enactment of state legislation to increase safeguards for public employees’ retirement savings. In addition to reporting for a commodity news service out of Leawood, Kan., Meyer worked for the Wall Street Journal from its Chicago bureau covering agricultural futures markets for the newspapers and Dow Jones News Wire.
Kansas Policy Institute
Kansas Policy Institute is a non-profit organization that advocates for free enterprise solutions and the protection of personal freedom. It also operates KansasWatchdog, KansasOpenGov and KansasVotes.
Contact information for KansasReporter is Brian R. Hook, Bureau Chief
Topeka Office: 785.408.6100
Email: brhook@kansaspolicy.org