Jay Rosen (respected media blogger/NYU journalism teacher) and Craig Newmark (founder of craigslist) have an idea for a site that could be verrry interesting. Will Bunch (reporter at the Daily News in Phila) posted this item at his blog
http://attytood.com/ Will says:
"Let's face it, the current system of investigative reporting has broken down. Too many news organizations have make the same bizarre decision to slash in-depth, long-term reporting first, while keeping coverage of "headline news" that readers can get from six other sources. Paid journalists increasingly must focus on the big picture -- U.S. policy in Iraq, for example -- whereas the best investigative work is the "micro," like who are the small contractors getting fat on corruption because of U.S. policy in Iraq.
There is still some great work by great professionals, but there is also a growing body of successful investigative reporting by amateurs, for the very reason that they aren't constrained by some of the phony boundaries of "pro" journalism.
Here's the link to Jay Rosen's further explanation of the concept
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/07/25/nadn_qa.htmlIt's so fascinating to me that newspaper boards are tearing their hair out (supposedly) wondering why they are losing readers and it never occurs to them that maybe it's because of the things they've stopped doing. I'd love to see this venture succeed.