Putting their money into the right to know

PUTTING THEIR MONEY INTO THE RIGHT TO KNOW
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: E. Scott Reckard]
Herbert and Marion Sandler have unveiled ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization, with Paul E. Steiger, former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, as editor in chief. With $10 million a year from the Sandlers' foundation, and their assurances that he will operate independently, Steiger will assemble 24 investigative reporters, editors and researchers in Manhattan. ProPublica will begin operating in January with the stated mission of exposing abuse and neglect in powerful places -- government and business, of course, but also unions, universities, hospitals, the media and nonprofits. Stories will be provided free of charge to news organizations and nonprofits. As a rule, they will be offered first as exclusives to major news outlets, with an eye toward maximizing the effect of each article, the Sandlers said in an interview. But their eventual destination will be ProPublica's website, posted for all to see and print.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-propublica19nov19,1,1338701.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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