Jayme Fraser Email & Phone Number

Mclean, Va, Us

I use statistical techniques and R programming to test hypotheses, identify reporting opportunities and illuminate patterns amid tens of millions of data rows. Combined with traditional investigative reporting strategies, like source building and public records requests, I’ve been able to break news on heavily covered beats and inform the development of public policy, including a White House invitation to present findings to senior officials. An investigation of the nursing home chain that reported the highest COVID-19 death rate (and the unusual corporate structure behind it) resulted in more new digital subscriptions than nearly every other story published by USA TODAY in 2022. I also coach Gannett colleagues nationwide and teach workshops on skills from narrative writing to developing a data mindset.

Mclean, Va, Us

After GateHouse merged with Gannett, I continued to report health-related stories, both quick-turn and long-term. Other projects explored the challenges of airline travel for people with disabilities and, of course, everything COVID-19.

Mclean, Va, Us

I interviewed people and data about health care and its intersections with criminal justice, inequality, environment, culture and government policy. I collaborated with a developer on our team to design a tool that allowed us to customize stories with local information for each of our newspaper markets. My role changed to focus on accountability-minded enterprise reporting when GateHouse merged with Gannett, bringing me onto the staff at USA TODAY.

Missoula, Montana, Us

The bureau, a division of the College of Business at the University of Montana, has monitored Montana’s economic and business conditions through original research, surveys and data analysis for 75 years. As publications director, I will adapt traditional public-facing products, like the magazine Montana Business Quarterly, for the digital age and develop new strategies for sharing the team’s expertise in ways the general public can use.

I joined the Malheur Enterprise to work on a yearlong project as part of ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. I learned to strengthen my team communication, fact checking and project documentation. I additionally assisted as needed with page design, photography and editing, such as managing all Election Day coverage.

Missoula, Us

I proposed then led a collaborative investigation with the Missoulian and a capstone investigations class with sixteen undergraduate, graduate and business certificate students. I linked our teams by co-teaching, writing weekly memos, leading cross-team meetings, editing nine stories and shepherding the project to both web and print. The team analyzed why Montana has one of the highest rates of drug-exposed births and how the state failed by several measures to help pregnant women who used drugs. Among other impacts, the project led state leaders to create a safe harbor law for women who seek drug treatment while pregnant.

Davenport, Iowa, Us

With records, data and exclusive interviews, I told stories about Montana, Montanans & their government, both from the capitol and from the road. I proposed, led and edited a three-newsroom collaboration that examined Montana’s deteriorating public school buildings and the state funding program that had failed to keep up, leading legislators to design in a new approach. My work also spurred state leaders to improve public records retention, particularly around emails and other digital communications. As a trainer, I designed workshops for our five newsrooms on data analysis tools and techniques, visualization programs, narrative writing, mapping and web-based sleuthing.

Houston, Texas, Us

In the nation’s most diverse city, I delved into politics, policy and religious life. I explored the reasons one of the nation's oldest Muslim organizations struggled to connect with a new generation of leaders, investigated bureaucratic hurdles that delayed homeless veterans from receiving housing, and exposed that executive members of the Houston mayor’s staff used city funds to pay the bills of a floundering nonprofit that would eventually file for bankruptcy. I also reported a string of stories about the outsized power of hundreds of small utility districts that evolved beyond their original mission, including unusual agreements that allowed the City of Houston to collect sales tax outside its boundaries. At the request of editors, I updated, expanded and organized a digital library of guidelines for covering a variety of events from murders and interstate pile-ups to chemical plant explosions and hurricanes, which enabled quick and thorough reporting regardless of who was working that day.

Seattle, Wa, Us

On my first day, I provided updates as I shadowed police hunting for a man who killed four people in a cafe and a woman in a parking lot before turning the gun on himself. Other work included retelling the story of a Good Samaritan who worked to save one of the shooting victims, detailing the devastation to a premiere oyster farm when a derelict ship burned then sank, and covering the closure of one of the nation's oldest Muslim-founded schools -- the first to use the Montessori model -- because of shifting demographics within the city.

Missoula, Montana, Us

I worked in Adobe Creative Suite to design magazines, reports and other publications, as well as materials for community presentations. I suggested ways to communicate complex economic concepts to general and business audiences.

I managed 48 people on both the editorial and business teams as we navigated declining print revenues and a booming digital presence, ending the year profitable. I negotiated a contract for a new content management system that would enable us to sell better digital advertising products. I also reorganized the newsroom to emphasize a web-first approach to daily operations, expanding our social media engagement and increasing time spent on our website. Our reporting exposed the secret on-campus court used when professors allege a student could be a violent threat, regularly broke news on federal investigations into UM’s flawed responses to rape -- including cases involving high-profile student athletes -- and tracked the fair trade coffee brewed on campus from the Nicaraguan families who grew it to students' cups.

Covered budget and policy decisions of importance to students made by the University of Montana, Board of the Regents and Montana State Legislature.

Portland, Or, Us

Reporting web briefs and dailies for print out of the state capitol in Salem was my crash course on Oregon politics. Photographing tractor pulls, lineman contests and the devotion of the Timbers Army taught me about the state's culture. With that knowledge, I developed A1 enterprise stories and news features, scooping the New York Times on a national agreement among egg producers to transition to more humane cages.

We provided news coverage of Montana’s 62nd Legislature for dozens of newspapers and radio stations statewide.

Transformed edited manuscripts into books. Proofread. Created designs, chose materials and oversaw printing.

Davenport, Iowa, Us

Reported news and features ranging from an investigation into the challenges of trying a "shaken baby case" in rural Montana — a story that ultimately led to a judge freeing the man from prison as wrongfully convicted — to a profile of hay farmers reveling in a record crop sold quickly because of a Texas drought.

I sparked conversations on the joys and challenges of Wyoming life, including contentious state regulations mandating when to kill wolves that attack livestock to a piano-playing Vietnam veteran turned Harley-driving Methodist minister. I analyzed federal data to identify an uptick in local businesses relying on temporary visa workers to fill seasonal jobs.