This kind of hurt our head to have to deal with, but here goes: Arianna Huffington, the founder of a website that aggregates digested journalism from across the country, partially stripping news outlets of the precious page views required to sell advertising, has decided that she is “concerned that layoffs at newspapers [are] hurting investigative journalism.” So she’s teamed up with other donors, including the Atlantic Philanthropies, to create Huffington Post Investigative Fund. The fund, with its $1.75 million initial budget, will employ about ten journalists on investigative projects relating to the economy. While the Huffington Post tilts left, the goal will be for the reporting to be objective, and it will be available for publication anywhere. It’s the sort of nonprofit journalism that’s been hinted at here and there as traditional media struggles to move forward, but it’s a model that’s never seemed particularly plausible. But nothing ever succeeds if you don’t try it, and if there’s anyone who might have a magic touch with this kind of experiment, it’s Arianna Huffington. (And yes, if you do the math, those ten reporters are going to make a decent salary.)
Huffington Site Starts Project to Investigate the Economy [NYT]
Huffington Post Launches Investigative Journalism Venture [HuffPo]
