Amita Sharma
Investigative ReporterAs the public matters investigative reporter, Amita leads KPBS’ coverage on efforts to undermine democracy, including threats to public officials, bolstering the Big Lie, chipping away at voter’s rights, attempts to overturn election results, eroding institutions and weakening the government's capacity to do its job, as well as civic efforts to engage people with opposing views without rancor.
The goal of the position is to report on the stakes, from a San Diego County perspective, on the United States’ current political moment.
She has spent the last two years reporting on local threats to democracy, including regional extremism, the shrinking of local news coverage while the number of hyper partisan “news” websites grow, censorship at libraries and incivility at public meetings.
Her previous coverage includes: exposing abuses in local nursing homes at the height of the pandemic, including a serial rapist who had worked in several El Cajon facilities and was arrested following her reporting; unearthing a contract between the city of Chula Vista and Motorola that allowed the company to sell data collected by the Chula Vista Police Department; and reporting on discrimination and retaliation in the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office that led to court settlements and the retirement of the Public Defender.
-
Name-calling, mockery, outbursts and expletive-filled tirades are now standard fare at the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ meetings, sinking the mood and obstructing the public’s business -
Bill Nye the Science Guy once said, “To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.” A local retired science teacher started a volunteer program doing just that — cleaning up others’ litter. -
Pink slime is a derisive term used to describe the filler meat producers put in their products. It’s also used to describe websites that purport to produce unbiased news but actually have a partisan agenda. -
Former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher believes the messages between Grecia Figueroa, who has accused him of sexual assault, and her best friend will exonerate him. Figueroa claims the messages are privileged because the friend is also her mental health counselor. -
Native American leaders say the omissions prevent people from learning about their collective history. -
In a cross complaint, Nathan Fletcher alleges it was Grecia Figueroa who initiated contact with him in 2021 on Instagram.
-
County requiring employees of grocery stores and many other retail outlets to wear masks as of midnight Friday. That’s a tall order, says the California Grocers Association.
- Study: Half of San Diego County families with young kids struggle with costs
- La Jolla, Encanto and … MCAS Miramar? Here's where San Diego wants to tighten ADU regulations
- 50 years later: San Diego’s USS Midway and the fall of Sàigòn
- La Mesa-Spring Valley, Lemon Grove school mental health grants cut early by Trump administration
- Two San Diego nonprofits are poised to lose promised environmental justice grants — but the EPA has yet to tell them