MassINC’s CommonWealth magazine is hiring two reporters – Sarah Betancourt and Andy Metzger.
“At a time when most news outlets are shrinking, these two new hires affirm CommonWealth’s commitment to local journalism,” said Bruce Mohl, the editor of the online magazine.
Betancourt is a bilingual journalist (English-Spanish) who has previously been a reporter for the Associated Press, a correspondent with The Boston Globe, and a writer for NBC, the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and the New York Law Journal. She received a 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for her role in the ProPublica/NPR story, “They Got Hurt at Work and Then They Got Deported.”
Betancourt’s stories have examined teacher shortages, how databases are used by police departments to procure information on immigrants, and the spread of an infectious disease in children at a family detention center.
Metzger has worked most recently as a freelance writer, producing stories for CommonWealth on energy and political issues, including a recent feature on Roger Lau, the go-to political operative for Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic pols.
Metzger previously worked nearly six years at State House News Service, following three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracking bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounding out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics. Prior to his work on Beacon Hill, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal, and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics.
Betancourt and Metzger will join Mohl and Executive Editor Michael Jonas at CommonWealth, which covers state politics and policy through stories on the magazine website, conversations on the Codcast, and video explainers via the Reel Deal. With financial support from the Barr Foundation, the CommonWealth team is also starting to focus on the policy world of arts and the creative economy.