Mike Buffington had heard the rumblings you often hear about someone who has held public office for a long time. Then came a specific tip about former Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tim Madison and his secret bank accounts.

Buffington, editor of The Jackson Herald in Jefferson, Ga., went to work on a series of stories that resulted in Madison's conviction and imprisonment on theft charges.

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"If the top law enforcement official in your community has corruption going on, the newspaper ought to take a look. That's why we exist," said Buffington, who received the Society of Professional Journalists' regional Best of Show award July 19.

Buffington's work is a testament to the power of watchdog journalism. He was honored along with the AJC's Alan Judd and Andy Miller, whose "Hidden Shame" series documented severe problems with Georgia's mental health facilities — now the subject of a federal probe.

Judd and Miller picked up the Journalist of the Year Award from the Atlanta Press Club, as well as a regional first-place investigative award from SPJ at the groups' combined Awards Gala.

Despite the economic challenges facing newspapers, watchdog reporting remains an important focus. And there are more tools than ever to deliver this information quickly and easily to readers.

"Altruistically, many of us got into this field because we take seriously that notion that we've got to be people's eyes and ears," said Nunzio M. Lupo, the AJC's managing editor of news and information. "Even some of the smallest, one-man blogging shops have produced good investigative and watchdog journalism."

Buffington, whose family owns five weekly newspapers with 12 reporters, filed open-records requests and examined payroll records to learn that accounts in several counties had been set up to pay for rafting trips and salaries for people outside local government. Madison's wife and an assistant district attorney were also punished in the probe.

Judd and Miller's investigation began much the way Buffington's did, with tips from mental health advocates and family members. Their articles, which began last year, documented a pattern of mismanagement and poor staffing that has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 patients under questionable circumstances and nearly 200 cases of patient abuse since 2002.

Readers expect their local newspaper to be on the lookout for how tax money is being spent, what public officials are doing and not doing, how kids are being educated and who is looking out for consumers, said Lupo.

"It's something our readers love, and we will have lots of it," said Lupo. Most of the AJC's watchdog reporting in the last year has come from strong beat coverage, such as the work on Grady Hospital's financial crisis and the controversy over state CRCT scores.

Using her "Get Schooled" blog, reporter Laura Diamond immediately began looking at why CRCT social studies results were so poor. After the initial story broke, dozens of readers responded to her blog post, sharing their experiences with the test.

"That was how I was able to write that teachers and students said the material on the social studies test didn't match what teachers taught," she said.

On ajc.com, parents were able to zero in on their school's specific scores by grade level and subject and compare them to district and state averages. Tests results for every school in the state are available in an online database, which has received more than 120,000 page views, said database specialist Matt Dempsey.

Initial stories showed that pilot tests had reflected large-scale failures in sixth- and seventh-grade social studies, though state officials expected students to perform better on the actual tests, said AJC reporter Heather Vogell.

Reporters used the Georgia Open Records Act to obtain state reports and test data to get a better understanding of what happened.

"We were also able to report that state officials weren't tracking how many students were held back after failing certain CRCTs," said Vogell. "After we obtained and analyzed the data a few weeks later, we wrote that schools statewide were rarely enforcing a state law that requires retaining students who can't pass certain CRCTs.

"Readers' responses showed teachers, students and parents were anxious about the test. Their reactions largely reflected their opinions of it and its use in grade-promotion decisions — some thought retention was harmful, while others thought it wasn't used enough," she said.

The CRCT coverage gave readers an inside look at the state's testing process and raised retention as an issue that warrants ongoing attention. This kind of explanatory reporting is central to what readers expect from their newspaper.