The Public Education Center (PEC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative journalism

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

 organization based in Washington, DC. Through its National Security News Service (NSNS) and Natural Resources News Service (NRNS), PEC employs career investigative journalists to develop nationally significant, general-interest news stories that would otherwise be ignored by the mainstream media and places them in targeted commercial media.

NSNS covers topics such as weapons of mass destruction

Weapons of mass destruction

A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...

, nuclear issues, conventional arms, the intelligence

Intelligence (information gathering)

Intelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...

 community, terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

, and government waste, fraud, and secrecy. NRNS focuses on such topics as air and water pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

, habitat protection and reclamation, public land management

Land management

Land management is the process of managing the use and development of land resources. Land resources are used for a variety of purposes which may include organic agriculture, reforestation, water resource management and eco-tourism projects.-See also:*Sustainable land management*Acreage...

, and environmental regulation.

Reporters for PEC develop these investigative stories by locating and interviewing sources and finding relevant scientific and government information, often utilizing the federal Freedom of Information Act. The organization then offers the work to the commercial media, who utilize PEC’s contacts and extensive background research to write and produce the final stories themselves.

History

The Public Education Center was established in 1992 to finance and administer NSNS, which was founded by Wayne Jaquith in 1988 as a pilot project of the Council for a Livable World

Council for a Livable World

Council for a Livable World is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons...

’s Education Fund. Jaquith is currently the director of the Peace Philanthropy Project. Using NSNS as a model, the Public Education Center established NRNS in 1993.

Awards

Stories developed by NSNS and NRNS have received a number of journalism awards, including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting

The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in print journalism...

 for the New York Times series on the Pentagon’s military analysts program; the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for the Baltimore Sun’s “Shipbreaking”; the 1997 CINE award for 20/20’s “The Assassin”; and the 1997 Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for Frontline’s “Navy Blues.”

Administration

Joseph Trento is president of the Public Education Center. He has worked as an investigative journalist with both print and broadcast outlets. Before joining the National Security News Service in 1991, he worked for CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

’s Special Assignment Unit, the Wilmington News Journal, and prominent journalist Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson

Jack Northman Anderson was an American newspaper columnist, syndicated by United Features Syndicate, considered one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism...

. Trento is also the author of five books, including Prelude to Terror, The Secret History of the CIA, and Prescription for Disaster.