A cost-benefit analysis of accountability journalism: For every dollar The Washington Post invested in a 1999 series on police shootings, society gained $140 in net policy benefits

Analyzing The Washington Post’s 1999 series “Deadly Force,” James T. Hamilton finds that this sort of accountability journalism doesn’t come cheap to news organizations, but it does deliver “tremendous value” to society. The series led to a drop in fatalities from police shootings, a number Hamilton puts at eight statistical lives saved each year valued at $9.2 million, and the D.C. police department also invested $4.2 million in use-of-force training, putting the net policy benefits at $69.4 million. Divided by the amount the Post invested in the series ($487,000), Hamilton finds that “for each dollar the Post invested in reporting, society gained over $140 in net policy benefits in the first year.”

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