Donor Reveal

Late last month, a North Carolina news outlet unveiled a new feature on its website: Hover over the name of a sitting state lawmaker mentioned in any story, and you’ll see the top five donors to the legislator’s most recent campaign. The tech tool, called Donor Reveal, not necessarily earth-shattering, but it’s a nice example of the way political journalists can weave transparency and campaign-finance themes into their work in the digital age. But here’s what’s most interesting: Donor Reveal was developed not by some online startup or good-government nonprofit, but by WRAL, Capitol Broadcasting’s CBS affil in Raleigh.