# Ohio Capital Journal A nonprofit statehouse newsroom covering Ohio government and the effects of its policies. It carries **no advertising**, is free to readers, and is funded through grants and donations by **[[States Newsroom]]**, the largest state-focused nonprofit news network in the country, while retaining what it describes as full editorial independence. Its editor-in-chief is **David DeWitt**, who has covered Ohio government and politics since 2006, with earlier stints at *National Journal*, the *New York Observer*'s PolitickerOH and *The Athens NEWS*. Standing sections include Civil Rights, Education, Healthcare, **Public Corruption** and Election 2026, plus a Washington bureau. The outlet describes its posture as watchdog reporting paired with "principled commentary" — it does not claim to be neutral in the way a wire service does, and says so on its own masthead. ## Why it matters Ohio is one of the states where this wiki's coverage depends on local reporting that national outlets do not do. Three features make this outlet useful: - **Statehouse specificity.** Most national coverage of Ohio arrives only at election time. Legislative and administrative reporting the rest of the year is where the record actually accumulates. - **A named public-corruption beat.** Few outlets of this size maintain one as a standing section. - **Ad-free nonprofit funding.** It is not exposed to the advertiser pressure or traffic incentives that shape commercial local news, which is a different set of constraints rather than no constraints — the funder relationship is the one to watch, and it is disclosed. In the 2026 cycle the outlet was among those that checked Senate advertising claims in the state. See [[OH-Sen-2026-Special]] and [[Sherrod Brown]]. ## See Also - [[States Newsroom]] — the network it belongs to - [[OH-Sen-2026-Special]] — the race it has covered most closely - [[Media Hub]]