NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2022 – THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to serving the people of New York, today announced Scott Klein as its new Chief Product Officer. He joins from ProPublica, where he served as Deputy Managing Editor and led teams responsible for interactive news, design, and development.
As one of the founding employees at ProPublica, Klein pioneered the development of news applications as an innovative form of journalism to help people use data to understand complex national issues. Groundbreaking projects that he has led include Dollars for Docs, Nonprofit Explorer, and What Parler Saw. He’s also the co-founder of DocumentCloud, a product and service that revolutionized how news organizations collect and present source documents.
“I decided to join THE CITY because of the innovative, high-impact work they have done, with interactive tools like Missing Them and Meet Your Mayor, but also because this is a vital moment for local nonprofit news,” said Klein. “The newsroom is engaged and ambitious – and stacked with great journalists who have a deep understanding of the beats that really matter to help New Yorkers.”
“Scott is an industry pioneer that has a passion for serving New Yorkers and advancing the cause of local journalism,” said Richard Kim, editor in chief of THE CITY. “His work in editorial product development and innovative projects is impressive and visionary. As we continue to grow, attracting top talent like Scott is a testament to the powerful journalism our team at THE CITY produces every day.”
THE CITY’s award-winning editorial products include Missing Them, THE CITY’s COVID-19 memorial and journalism project; Meet Your Mayor, an interactive guide that matches New York voters with the candidates who see issues the same way they do; Coronavirus in New York City, a tracker that follows COVID-19 cases, vaccinations, hospitalizations and fatalities in New York City; How’s New York City Doing? a pandemic recovery tracker; and Have I Been Redistricted? that allows readers to search how their political boundaries have shifted in their communities.
“The American Journalism Project invested in THE CITY because we believe it is filling a vital role of serving New York City’s communities with much-needed local journalism,” said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project. “We’re excited to see THE CITY expand its newsroom and its stellar leadership team; Scott’s deep expertise will help usher in the next era of the organization’s innovation and growth.”
THE CITY will use support from the American Journalism Project to fund Klein’s role.
“Sophisticated, interactive voter guides are among the most effective techniques to engage voters and potential voters. At the local level, the best work on this front has been done by THE CITY with its Meet Your Mayor quiz,” said Dick Tofel, the former president of ProPublica. “Having been in the trenches with Scott since the earliest days of ProPublica, I can say that Scott and THE CITY are an ideal pair to take this groundbreaking work to the next level. It’s the combination that local newsrooms and our democracy need.”
Klein begins his role on Oct. 24.
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ABOUT THE CITY: THE CITY (thecity.nyc) is a nonprofit digital news platform whose mission is to produce free-to-read, local reporting that serves the people of New York City. Launched in 2019 to fill critical local reporting gaps, THE CITY covers New York’s uncovered neighborhoods, holds the powerful to account, and helps make sense of the greatest city in the world. THE CITY Scoop, its flagship newsletter, is delivered weekdays and Sunday, while additional newsletters serve New Yorkers with news they can use on housing, jobs and civic engagement.
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