Dispatch from Paul Steiger's talk on ProPublica

ProPublica is a foundation-funded investigative newsroom, based in New York and founded two years ago with money from Herb and Marion Sandler. With 32 journalists on staff, they focus on stories on the abuse of power and the failure to uphold the public interest.

Steiger reported that the organization was one year ahead of where he thought they'd be at this stage. They'd successfully overcome their three initial challenges:

1. Getting access to important information: It took time, but their calls are now returned.

2. Getting mainstream media platforms to partner with them and use their material: They've investigated pieces with the who's who of MSM and include 60 Minutes, the New York Times, the LA Times and USA Today.

3. Ensuring they were seen as neutral and objective, in spite of the political leanings of their funders.

They're now focused on three new challenges: continually improving the quality of their journalism; improving their website and taking greater advantage of new media and diversifying their funding base beyond that provided by the Sandlers. This year, they raised $1 million from 100 other entities, and with time they'd like one-third of their funding to come from elsewhere.

Edited videos of the talk will be available soon. In the meantime, Alf Hermida provides a great overview of the event, with a particular focus on ProPublica's social media efforts, and Meghan Warby raises some interesting questions on the same.

See here for information on future Samara/Massey seminars.