The Independent: A new British nonprofit, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, is focusing on unearthing big stories. “Lots of newspapers take the first whiff of a story and run with it,” says managing editor Iain Overton. “I’ve had to forcibly restrain myself from thinking, ‘sod it, let’s publish on the first thing we find’ because, though the whiff may be there, or even the stench, what I want to see is the decomposing corpse.”
Nieman Journalism Lab: As more news organizations team up with nonprofit ventures to produce investigative stories, Laura McGann explores the challenges and limitations of collaboration.
Hannah Jane Sassaman: The true value of the Fourth Estate: Paying for important but expensive journalism. The Philadelphia Daily News series Tainted Justice, which won a Pulitzer Prize this year, cost $164,000.
WisconsinWatch: A journalism ethics report calls for standards of openness in nonprofit newsrooms. “The report stresses that nonprofit journalism centers must remain true to their goals, be transparent about who is funding them, establish guidelines for handling conflicts of interest and communicate with potential supporters to maintain public confidence in these emerging experiments in journalism.”
