7-22-08 by dugan
The cratering of the L.A. Times and the rest of Tribune Co. has me worrying, again, about who will hold the powerful, the corrupt and the incompetent to account when all the investigative and beat reporters are fired. One small but notable point of hope is ProPublica, a well-financed online nonprofit network that is grabbing good reporters, including from the L.A. Times. A gander at it today turns up a pair of significant oil industry stories: a taxpayer gift of up to $53 billion to oil companies, and a threat to New York’s drinking water from sloppily permitted toxic drilling for natural gas.
The natural gas story was copublished by the Albany Times Union and WNYC radio. But the the oil royalties ripoff story, stemming from a Government Accountability Office study, was originally broken by the award-winning Politico, yet never made the leap to traditional media. It shows how thin traditional journalism is getting, for lack of expertise, bodies, and interest by corporate owners who scorn their obligation to the public good. At least ProPublica gathers a daily list of investigative stories from around the nation and links to them. Seen in a bundle, investigative journalism looks alive for a while.