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.
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Some of California's injured veterans are getting substandard care. Wade Sanders, who was recently appointed to advise Lt. Governor John Garamendi on veterans and military affairs, will discuss what n
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Opponents of a proposal to build a training camp in East County for military and police personnel say a San Diego County employee -- who until recently was working on the review process for the projec
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Incompetence but no corruption. That's the verdict of San Diego city hall's investigation into how its own officials allowed Sunroad Enterprises to construct a too-tall building in the Montgomery Fiel
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Thomas Jefferson Law School Professor Marjorie Cohn is out with a new book, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." In it, she argues that the Bush Administration has repeatedly
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45 miles east of San Diego, the potential roar of gunfire, noisy helicopters and traffic jams has jolted awake the tiny, rural town of Potrero. That's where Blackwater USA - a private military contrac
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Water bills are going up again for San Diegans. Full Focus Reporter Amita Sharma has more.
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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.
- Experts concerned about white nationalist imagery in ICE recruitment materials
- Animal shelter supervisor ‘out of the office’ after revelation of profane recording
- New Terminal 1 at San Diego Airport opens to passengers
- Ramona cemetery district board member uncovers unusual compensation records
- Department of Homeland Security eyes military and veterans to join immigrant crackdown