American Journalism Review interviewed former Washington Post investigative team leader Larry Roberts about his new gig with a nonprofit investigative journalism venture funded in part by The Huffington Post. He’ll be hiring about a dozen editors, reporters and multimedia staffers, as well as working with freelancers.

Here’s a glimpse into the kind of money the left is pouring into investigative journalism:

Joining The Huffington Post and the American News Project in providing the venture’s initial $1.75 million funding is Atlantic Philanthropies, a foundation that focuses its giving on issues of social and economic inequity. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund joins the ranks of other nonprofit startups attempting to pick up the slack as beleaguered traditional news outlets significantly cut their staffs and carry out fewer investigative efforts.

 

ProPublica, an investigative journalism Web site that launched in early 2008 with a guaranteed budget of at least $10 million dollars for three years, now has 32 journalists working on pieces ranging from AIG’s bailout to health care reform. While ProPublica tends to focus on national investigations, smaller nonprofits are popping up to investigate at the local level as well.

As noted earlier this week, TPM Media also just received an infusion of venture capital that will be used to hire seven more staffers.

Add the new hires to the 32-man team at ProPublica, and that’s more than 50 liberal journalists who will be dedicated to investigating the government from a progressive worldview. And that total doesn’t include investigators at The Huffington Post itself, the American News Project, the Center for Independent Media, the Center for Investigate Reporting and the Center for Public Integrity.

The right needs to get busy. It’s time to start doing journalism rather than just criticizing the journalism the left does.

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