In 2023, Investigate Midwest and Flatwater Free Press teamed up to take a critical look at Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen.

The work received a top business reporting award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. 

“This collaboration resulted in important public service journalism,” said Erin Orr, Investigate Midwest’s executive director, “which is at the heart of Investigate Midwest’s mission to hold the leaders in big agribusiness and government accountable.”

The reporting collaboration focused on Pillen, who started and grew a business into a global hog empire. He was elected as Nebraska’s top executive in 2022, and now oversees the state agency tasked with setting rules for pork operations, including his. 

Investigate Midwest assistant editor and senior reporter Sky Chadde and Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu began looking into these potentially conflicting roles in early 2023 when Pillen took office. 

Two of their stories were honored with the top government reporting award in the 2024 Best in Business contest by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.

“The judges loved how this entry holds the powerful accountable and breaks new ground tying the water supply environmental impact to the governor’s business ties. A timeless, traditional investigation, but one of great importance,” according to judges’ comments from SABEW.

The first story focused on the conflict of interest and the second story centered on water quality near some of Pillen’s Nebraska hog operations.

Investigate Midwest is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides investigative reporting on agribusiness and industrial agricultural corporations. Its stories are available to other news outlets for free. 

Also known as the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, Investigate Midwest was created in 2009 in Kansas City before moving to Champaign, Illinois, in 2012. It has won national and regional awards for its data-driven, investigative reporting. 

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