Meet CJ Lester: your neighbor, your journalist

I'm CJ Lester — a neighbor, a husband, a man of faith, and an independent journalist covering the communities I actually live in. Based in Oxford, Georgia, I focus on the City of Oxford and the City of Conyers because these are my streets, my neighbors, and my local government. Nobody sent me here. I chose to be here.

What drives me is pretty simple: local government makes decisions every day that affect real people's lives — zoning approvals, city budgets, who gets hired and why — and most of it happens with very little scrutiny. Bigger outlets aren't watching, so I started watching.

I'm not a career journalist. I work nights at QuikTrip and build this outlet on my days off. I file open records requests, attend council meetings, and ask the questions that don't always get answered politely. I started CJ Lester Investigates because I believe every community deserves accountability journalism — not just the ones with a TV station paying attention. My faith shapes everything I do.

I show up. That's the simplest way I can put it. I'm not filing records requests from an office in Atlanta. I live here. I shop here. I worship here. When I cover a city council meeting, I'm not a reporter parachuting in — I'm a resident who has a stake in what gets decided. That changes how I approach the work.

My reporting starts with public records. If a government body is doing something that affects this community, there's usually a paper trail — meeting minutes, contracts, emails, applications. I follow that trail. I don't publish rumors or run with anonymous tips without verification. Every major story I've published is built on documents the public has a legal right to see.

But records alone don't tell the whole story. I also talk to people. I knock on doors. I take phone calls from residents who feel like nobody is listening. Some of my best leads have come from a comment on a Facebook post or a conversation after church. I take all of it seriously.