What We Are

The Lab Report invests in insightful enterprise journalism that provides readers a deeper understanding of critical issues facing Dallas and other American cities. In a world where too often opinion and advocacy masquerade as news, we provide trustworthy, helpful, and compelling journalism.

The Lab Report exists because Dallas should be a place where all families can thrive—in every neighborhood, without exception. We’ll dig into healthcare, public safety, housing, land use, the environment, and other critical issues that affect how we all live. Character-driven storytelling will introduce readers to the people who work within these spaces as well as others whose lives are changed or affected by the issues we cover. 

We’ll examine strategies around these topics both locally and in how we can learn from other cities across the country. In our goal to help better inform our community, we are guided by the core tenets of curiosity, discovery, and civic education. 

The Lab Report is published by the Child Poverty Action Lab, an organization dedicated to delivering trustworthy information that can help Dallas continue to improve for all kids, families, and residents in every corner of our city.

Who We Are

Matt Goodman is the editor and co-founder of The Lab Report. He spent 11 years at D Magazine, the city magazine of Dallas, as its executive editor for online and a senior editor for the business title D CEO. His 2016 cover story on “Dr. Death,” the tale of a surgeon who killed, attracted global attention. He has followed a heart transplant from donor to recipient, profiled a Dallas man who dove to the deepest depths of the world’s oceans, and examined city zoning policy and infrastructure decisions. His work has won awards from the City and Regional Magazine Association, Texas Managing Editors, and the Dallas Bar Foundation’s Stephen H. Philbin Award program, among others.

Sharon Grigsby is the senior staff writer and co-founder of The Lab Report. She has more than 40 years of experience reporting and editing in Dallas, most recently as city columnist at the Dallas Morning News. Over two decades she held leadership positions in nearly every corner of The News, including national coverage, politics, features, religion, and local news before becoming city editor and then assistant managing editor for the paper’s metro operation. For 10 years, she led The News’  “Bridging Dallas’ North-South Gap” project, which won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2010. She also was a Pulitzer finalist in 2018 for editorials she wrote related to the sexual assault scandal at her alma mater, Baylor University.

Kelli Smith is a staff writer for The Lab Report. She was a reporter at the Dallas Morning News for four years, where she covered public safety with a focus on the Dallas Police Department. She analyzed crime trends, tracked Dallas’ violence reduction plan, spent time with people impacted by violent crime, and examined whether perceptions of public safety matched the stories told in the data. She was named The News’ 2024 Breaking News Reporter of the Year for her work uncovering a police chief’s surprise departure and the gutting of power of the police oversight office. She also led coverage of the 2024 murder of Officer Darron Burks, which earned national and statewide journalism awards.

Claire Ballor is a staff writer for The Lab Report. Prior to joining the newsroom, she was a reporter at the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Business Journal. During her career, she’s covered crime, courts, real estate, local government, and food. She was a lead reporter for The News’ “Deadly Fake” project on the fentanyl epidemic in 2023, and was part of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist team for coverage of the 2016 Dallas police ambush.

Alan Cohen is the publisher and co-founder of The Lab Report as well as the CEO and Founder of the Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL), its parent organization.

Our Ethics

Editorial Independence

Reporting in The Lab Report is free from commercial or political influence. Our journalists are not allowed to skew timelines or alter facts in any way. In accordance with the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, our reporters avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, and refuse any types of gifts or special treatment that may damage our credibility.

While we are a division of our parent company, the Child Poverty Action Lab, our newsroom operates with editorial independence. That means no one other than the journalists employed by The Lab Report have any control over what we write or how we write it. We do not pay sources for interviews or subjects for photographs or videos in which they appear. While our journalism is fact checked, our sources are barred from pre-review of any story or content prior to its publishing.

Fact Checking and Corrections

Each piece of journalism we publish, regardless of medium, is grounded in truth and verifiable facts. Everything that appears on our website or affiliated social channels is fact checked by an editor or reporter before being published. In the event of a correction, a notice will be placed atop the story that details the error and how it was corrected. The verbiage must clearly explain the error and how the story has changed.

Reporting and Sourcing

We seek a diversity of viewpoints, opinions, and expertise in reporting our stories, but always in service of the truth. If our reporting involves a source being critical of another person, we give that individual an opportunity to respond. Our work is driven by fairness and verifiable facts, both reporting and writing the stories, videos, or other content we may create. We always seek to maintain our integrity and credibility. Our headlines, bylines, datelines, and photography will always accurately depict the information we are sharing with readers. Quotations will always reflect the exact statements shared with a reporter, be that in a conversation or in a document or report. While ellipses are permitted within quotes to indicate the absence of additional words or phrases, its use will never change the meaning of the quotation.

We avoid using anonymous sources as much as possible, and their use in a story must be approved by an editor. If a name is withheld, our story will explain why. Our stories may involve victims of trauma or crimes, and their desire to remain anonymous to protect their identities will be prioritized. Ditto with whistleblowers.

We will always credit other news organizations or institutions when referencing their work. Our journalists will never take credit for something that is not theirs. We will also seek to verify information from other outlets or sources when used in our journalism.

Like many other publications, our reporters may use journalistic jargon to communicate with a source how the information they share is used. The Lab Report follows this glossary during the reporting process:

“On the record” means all information is fair game and attributable to the individual who shares it with us.

“On background” indicates that the information can be used as general, contextual material, never as quotes, and will not be attributed to the individual who shared this information with us.

“Not for attribution” means information can be used as contextual material and inside quotations but is not attributed to the individual who shared this information with us.

“Off the record” means information that cannot be used in the story but can be verified through other means.

Opinion Pieces

If an opinion piece is published by The Lab Report, it will be clearly labeled and communicated to the reader. Any pieces with opinion must follow the same editorial standards mentioned above: these will only include verifiable facts and the opinion writer is expected to show that their reporting anchors their argument.  

Use of Generative AI

We generally follow WIRED magazine’s AI policy: None of our stories will feature text generated or edited by AI. We may use AI as a search engine or to brainstorm headlines and story ideas. As the technology progresses, we may use AI for research or analysis purposes, but reporters are expected to verify the information they receive by comparing it to their notes, data sets, or with their sources. We view AI as a tool that will morph over time, but our journalists will follow the same rigorous reporting and editorial standards as they would when using any other tool. We will always seek primary sources.

In other words: We’re all human. We will never use AI to misrepresent how our work was produced. 

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