As WBEZ’s data editor, Matt helps break down large and complex sets of information into stories that matter to Chicagoans.
Prior to joining WBEZ, Matt worked on an R&D team at the Washington Post, where he developed and supported products to automate public records requests and analyze large document collections for investigative projects. He also reported on voting rights litigation leading up to the 2020 election and designed a tracker to monitor criminal filings from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Matt was a 2020 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, where he prototyped tools to monitor civil and human rights. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, he started a collaborative research project to collect medical examiner records around the United States and support local newsrooms measuring the virus’s impacts on their communities.
Previously, as data editor of the Chicago Reporter, Matt and his colleagues compiled and published a database of police misconduct lawsuits settled by the city. Their reporting was cited in a Justice Department report and won an award for innovation in investigative journalism from Investigative Reporters & Editors. He has also worked for Crain’s Chicago Business and various suburban newspapers owned by the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. He spent a few years as a software engineer and developed an open-source project, FOIAmail, that helps newsrooms manage large-scale public records request campaigns. He’s a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University.
Matt Kiefer

Stories by Matt Kiefer
How did Chicago’s municipal elections play out in your precinct?
View interactive maps displaying election results for mayor, City Council and police district council for every precinct in the city.
Chicago Public Schools grapples with a spike in after-school killings
Last year, nine children 17 years old or younger were killed on a weekday between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times analysis found.
One in five Chicagoans live in a new ward now
After once-a-decade redistricting, roughly 20% of Chicagoans live in a different ward, according to a WBEZ analysis. Hang on to this interactive ward map for future reference.
They’re not just handguns anymore — and they’re a growing problem
Increasingly, police are seizing ‘switches’ that convert handguns into illegal machine guns.
Frozen sewage slows down coronavirus surveillance
A promising new science aimed at predicting COVID-19 outbreaks in high-risk communities is running into a challenge: Chicago winter.
How WBEZ analyzed water debt in Chicago
After homeowners said they couldn’t keep up with the rising cost of water, WBEZ submitted 31 FOIA requests to understand whether this was a city-wide trend.
Tracking COVID-19 in schools: Your guide to the official data for Chicago and Illinois
WBEZ looked closely at the city and state dashboards monitoring cases and outbreaks. We explain what’s in them and what’s missing.
Vaccination Rates Across Chicago Suburbs Range From Under 15% To Over 80%
The highest-vaccinated areas are majority white and affluent; the lowest are majority Black and low-income.