Spotlight PA

About Us

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom dedicated to high-quality investigative and public-service journalism about the Pennsylvania state government and urgent statewide issues. We were founded as a bold, collaborative answer to the rapid and significant decline of corporate-owned, for-profit media in our state, resulting in drastically reduced coverage of issues vital to Pennsylvanians.

We seek to return journalism in our state to its fundamental role as a check and balance on the powerful, especially politicians and policy makers, and a public resource to empower residents to take action and drive change. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest — not profit motives. That’s why we don’t charge for access, and share our journalism with 100+ newsrooms in the state for republication at no cost.

As Spotlight PA’s work has garnered more local and national recognition, the call has grown for us to help bring more investigative journalists back to local communities in Pennsylvania. To address this, we launched our first regional bureau, based in State College and covering north-central Pennsylvania, in 2022 and our second regional bureau, based in Reading and covering Berks County, launched in 2025, following a year-long community study and planning process. Discussions are underway for additional expansions in other parts of the state.