Jonathan Oosting joins Bridge Magazine’s Lansing watchdog team

Jonathan Oosting, recognized as one of the nation’s best statehouse reporters, joins Bridge Magazine’s Lansing watchdog team as a capitol and state government reporter.  

Oosting, 38, comes to Bridge from The Detroit News, where he worked since 2016 as a political reporter in the paper’s Lansing Bureau. At The News, he covered the Legislature, governor’s office and several state agencies, combining prolific deadline reporting with longer-term enterprise and investigative work.

Oosting, who has reported on Michigan politics since 2013, has covered several political campaigns and won multiple awards for his work. Among other investigations, he has exposed the outsized role that “dark money” plays in political campaigns; the financial toll to families wrongly accused of unemployment insurance fraud; how government bureaucrats minimized the complaints of Flint residents over tainted drinking water, and used public record laws to hold officials accountable for decisions made behind closed doors.    

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Oosting will team with Riley Beggin in covering the Michigan statehouse. They are joined in Bridge’s Lansing bureau by senior writer Ron French, who covers education, and Jim Malewitz, who covers the environment.

Oosting succeeds Lindsay VanHulle, who now works for Automotive News.

“We are delighted to bring Jonathan to Bridge and our readers,” said Bridge Managing Editor Joel Kurth. 

“Jonathan is well-known statewide for his authoritative, balanced and deeply sourced coverage of the Capitol. He cares deeply about Michigan and public policy, and we have no doubt he’ll help elevate our brand of nonpartisan, independent journalism.”

Before working at The Detroit News, Oosting spent eight years at MLive, where he worked various beats and eventually covered this Michigan Capitol for the company’s website and eight daily newspapers.  

He received his undergraduate degree from Grand Valley State and a master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, graduating magna cum laude from both. Oosting lives in Lansing.

Oosting can be reached at joosting@bridgemi.com, 517-862-1079, and on Twitter at @jonathanoosting.