PROVIDENCE – Jim Hummel, most recently a reporter for WLNE-TV (ABC 6), is returning to investigative reporting in Rhode Island in a new multimedia partnership with radio station WPRO and the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI).
The Hummel Report has been formed as a nonpartisan and nonprofit entity, funded by tax-deductible donations and dedicated to “exposing waste and corruption for the people of Rhode Island,” Hummel said in a news release he issued Thursday announcing the venture.
“I’ve always felt that I worked for the people of Rhode Island,” Hummel told OSPRI, which also issued its own release. “Now, I really do. I take that as a great honor and responsibility and will maintain the integrity and vigilance to my job that the public has come to expect.”
At WLNE, Hummel became known for his “You Paid for It” segments on government waste.
The Hummel Report will be located at www.hummelreport.com. Hummel’s video reports will be posted to the Web site once a week. The first report is scheduled for Oct. 15, according to OSPRI.
When stories break, they will be announced exclusively on WPRO’s 630 AM and 99.7 FM stations. The radio station also will air regular weekly interviews with Hummel on Thursday mornings.
According to Hummel, his reports will feature these three distinctive features: an online source for news feeds from across the state, providing a single location for news from print, television and the blogosphere; a database of public documents and information to help provide a “transparent” view of government operations; and exclusive stories in the form of video documentaries that expose government waste and corruption.
Paul Giammarco, program director for WPRO, called the Hummel Report “an outstanding opportunity for all Rhode Islanders to see and learn firsthand about corruption and government mismanagement. Hopefully, these reports will inspire Rhode Islanders to become more aware so that we can begin to facilitate systemic change.”
“This partnership is exactly what is needed to expose the government waste and corruption that has mired and embarrassed our state for decades,” added William Felkner, director and founder of OSPRI, which provides the transparency database.
Hummel spent 13 years as a reporter for WLNE in Providence before leaving to pursue other opportunities last year. He also worked for 13 years for The Providence Journal.
In 2007, Hummel won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting from the Radio and Television News Directors Association for a report on WLNE about the North Kingstown school administration’s use of restricted federal funds for food and drink on a staff retreat.
