Last night I attended the first meeting of a business advisory board that is being created to support a new, non-profit venture called "Pro Publica:  Journalism in the Public Interest".  Its concept is to create a news organization devoted to the kinds of long-form investigative journalism that used to be done by newspapers across the country.  In order to accomplish that mission they have recruited an all-star team of newspaper reporters and editors--including several Pulitzer Prize winners--and are beginning to turn out some pretty impressive work.  You can see examples here:  http://www.propublica.org/

The core belief of the organization is that our free society relies, among other things, on a free press to root out stories and provide a check on government excess and official corruption.  We cannot count on government officials to police themselves, and bureaucracies in general have never been supporters of transparency.  So we need journalists to do the digging and shine a bright light on areas which officials might prefer go unrevealed.  In the good old days (10 years ago), that role was well played by newspaper and magazine reporters, some of whom were given time and money to develop these kinds of stories.  But with the restructuring of the media business, funds from traditional news organizations for investigative journalism are drying up.  And while bloggers may be able to uncover some pieces of a story, most lack the time, skill and resources to really manage these kinds of investigations.

At this point the venture has no real business model (which explains why people like me were asked to hear their story and provide some guidance).  The investigative reports being published by Pro Publica are being provided for free to partner news organizations (i.e. The NY Times, LA Times and others).  And at this point, those reports can be seen by readers for the cost of their daily newspaper or for free on those newspapers' websites.  Pro Publica wants to "make a difference" and believes passionately that their reports need the widest possible readership.  But to fund the venture they have so far relied on foundations and private donors for support.  It's not clear that they can rely on those funding sources for the long-term.  Some have proposed a government subsidy for the organization, but that makes everyone appropriately nervous about the potential conflict of interest for an organization that wants to investigate aspects of that same government. 

As an organization we have always taken the journalism side of what we do extremely seriously.  We maintain numerous outlets for long-form journalism, in print and online, and have on occasion been able to shine the bright light of investigative journalism on the darker corners of the industries and markets we cover.  So while I don't see a direct connection between Pro Publica and ALM--their pieces don't seem like they would be relevant to our audiences--I do think there is a philosophical connection between our organizations.  I'd just feel better if they could figure out a way to pay for what they are doing besides the goodness of philanthropists' hearts.  I'm pretty sure that they would agree with that concern. 

If you have any thoughts about Pro Publica or the general topic of investigative journalism, I'd like to hear them.