Typepad won't load my picture, but I've put up big news today on the future of the news but it is on flickr. Go there for the in-depth. You might think the big media news is the start-up announcement of Fox Nation, but it isn't. It is the announcement by Arianna Huffington that investigative news will be privately funded by a non-profit and the the first subject to be tackled will be The Economy.
From HuffPo's announcement:
Huffington Post Launches Investigative Journalism Venture
it will bankroll a group of investigative journalists, directing them at first to look at stories about the nation's economy.
The popular Web site is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. ...Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said. The Huffington Post venture is reminiscent of ProPublica, a nonprofit independent newsroom funded by The Sandler Foundation and headed by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. ProPublica works with a $10 million budget.
Another way the news is shifting: Slate launched "Shoot the Recession," a project in which readers have been asked to help document the economic crisis in photographs via submitting images to the group page Slate set up on the photo-sharing site Flickr. I've added some of my shots.
The FOX Nation, a new Website launching March 30th. Read more about it below and watch a video.
video
Posted by: Drewing | March 30, 2009 at 09:39 AM
This is interesting. So if the journalism is privately funded, will it be more or less objective than it is now?
Posted by: Janet | March 31, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Gosh, I would be more reassured if the Huff Post were not such a mess.
Posted by: Hattie | April 02, 2009 at 03:05 PM
Expect these new groups and sponsors will just have to establish their credibility over time.
Posted by: Joared | April 22, 2009 at 03:45 AM