We Asked Local Newsrooms to Pitch Us on Funding Investigations. The Response Has Been Enormous.

 

We’re going to fund an investigative reporter at six local newsrooms across the country. We’ve gotten 239 applications.

By Propublica

Last month, we announced a project in which ProPublica would pay for a reporter next year to do investigative journalism at up to six news organizations across the country.

Our theory was that many journalists and local news organizations were aching to do this kind of work, which is vital to our democracy, but have been hamstrung by constraints on resources and time. By offering financial and editorial support, we figured we could help create a path for crucial accountability journalism that wouldn’t otherwise be done.

So how’s our theory working out? Last week, a few of us guessed how many applications we’d get. The smart money was on 75. (No, we didn’t actually bet money.) By the time the deadline hit on Sunday, we’d gotten 239.

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