| Type | 501(c)(3) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Manhattan |
| Staff | Herbert Sandler, Chairman Paul Steiger, Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg, Managing Editor Richard Tofel, General Manager, Dafna Linzer, Senior Reporter |
| Area served | United States |
| Focus | Investigative Journalism |
| Method | Sandler Family Supporting Foundation |
| Employees | <50 |
| Slogan | Journalism in the public interest |
| Website | ProPublica.org |
ProPublica is an independent non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time investigative reporters and the resulting stories are given away to news 'partners' for publication or broadcast. In some cases, reporters from both ProPublica and the news partners work together on a story. Recent news partners have included 60 Minutes, USA Today, WNYC/NPR, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Albany Times Union, the Newark Star-Ledger, the New York Sun, Politico, Salon.com, Slate, MSN Money, Reader's Digest, Business Week, and Newsweek.com among others.
Contents |
History
ProPublica is the brainchild of Herbert and Marion Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, who have committed $10 million a year to the project.[1] The Sandlers hired Paul Steiger, former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, to create and run the organization.
The Sandler Family Supporting Foundation has previously made grants to Oceana, ACORN, Rocky Mountain Institute, Environmental Defense and the Tides Foundation.[2]
Concerns about possible editorial bias
In the wake of the October 2007 announcement of ProPublica's launch, a business publication expressed concerns about the ability of the organization to maintain an independent and non-partisan editorial stance toward the subjects it investigates.[3] In addition, Slate senior writer Jack Shafer noted that Herb Sandler has given "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to Democratic party candidates over the years, as well as millions to left-leaning or progressive political advocacy organizations such as MoveOn and ACORN.[4]
Responding to such concerns, ProPublica's editor-in-chief, Paul Steiger. told the PBS Newshour: "Coming into this, when I talked to Herb and Marion Sandler, one of my concerns was precisely this question of independence and nonpartisanship... My history has been doing 'down the middle' reporting. And so when I talked to Herb and Marion I said 'are you comfortable with that?' They said 'absolutely'. I said 'well suppose we did an expose of some of the left leaning organisations that you have supported or that are friendly to what you've supported in the past'. They said 'no problem'. And when we set up our organizational structure, the board of directors, on which I sit and which Herb is the chairman, does not know in advance what we're going to report on."[5]
Board members
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Alberto Ibarguen
- James A. Leach
- Rebecca Rimel
Investigations
- Lost in Translation: Alhurra—America’s Troubled Effort to Win Middle East Hearts and Minds by Dafna Linzer with reporting by Robert Lewis of ProPublica. Partnered with 60 Minutes (video).
- New York’s Gas Rush Poses Environmental Threat by Abrahm Lustgarten with reporting by Jonathan Sidhu and Allison Battey of ProPublica. Partnered with WNYC (transcript | audio) and Albany Times-Union.
- Fractured Relations — New York City Sees Drilling as Threat to Its Water Supply by Abrahm Lustgarten with WNYC, Albany Times-Union, and New York Sun.
- In the Eye of the Storm by Sheri Fink with Salon.com.
- U.S. Targets Overseas Bribery; KBR Exec's Plea Widens Probe by T. Christian Miller with reporting by Marlena Telvick, Oriana Zill de Granados, Lowell Bergman, and Jake Bernstein. Partnered with MSN Money and Frontline.
- Acting Tough: When Cameras Leave, OSHA Penalties Wither by Robert Lewis with Salon.com.
- Palin Administration Oversaw $26 million ROAD to 'Nowhere' by Paul Kiel with research by Lisa Schwartz. Partnered with Newsweek.
- Palin Defended 'Bridge to Nowhere' to 'Spinmeisters' by Marcus Stern with reporting by Paul Kiel and Lisa Schwartz. Partnered with Politico.
- Anatomy of a Bank Failure by Jake Bernstein with MSN Money.
- Criminal Past Is No Bar to Nursing in California by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber with Los Angeles Times
- Calfornia Takes Steps to Probe Nurses' Criminal Backgrounds by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber with Los Angeles Times
- Why CDC Responded with 'Lack of Urgency' to Formaldehyde Warnings by Joaquin Sapien with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Government Study on Children Living in Katrina Trailers Muddled By Delays, Confusion by Joaquin Sapien with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- GOP offers scant proof of voter fraud by Chisun Lee with reporting by Kristin Jones. Partnered with Politico.
- As Rape Victims Wait, Money for DNA Testing Goes Unused by Ben Protess with Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times
- Goldman Sachs urged bets against California bonds it helped sell by Sharona Coutts with Marc Lifsher and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times.
- Crimes by Air Marshals Raise Questions About Hiring by Michael Grabell with Jamie Wilson. Published in USA Today.
References
- ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (2007-10-15). "Group Plans to Provide Investigative Journalism", New York Times. Retrieved on 15 October 2007.
- ^ "Sandler Family Supporting Foundation". Activistcash.com. Center for Consumer Freedom. http://www.activistcash.com/foundation.cfm/did/1622. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Mr. Sandler's Media"
- ^ Investigating Herb and Marion Sandler
- ^ "Financing Independent Journalism"
External links
- ProPublica official site
- What Do Herbert and Marion Sandler Want? - Slate article
- Going Online With Watchdog Journalism - article by Paul Steiger
- CJR: Outside Agitators - Columbia Journalism Review article
- ProPublica A Boost To Watchdogs - Albany Times Union editorial
USA Reality - Katrina - Vigilantes Shooting Black Men.(I)
Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist". - December 19, 2008 Katrinas Hidden Race War: In Aftermath of Storm, White Vigilante Groups Shot 11 African Americans in New Orleans In a shocking new report, The Nation magazine exposes how white vigilante groups patrolled the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, shooting at least eleven African American men. Local police have never conducted investigations into the shootings. We speak to reporter A.C. Thompson and New Orleans resident Donnell Herrington, who nearly died after being shot by a white vigilante. A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter whose latest article Katrinas Hidden Race War appears in The Nation magazine. A.C. Thompsons reporting on New Orleans was directed and underwritten by the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. ProPublica provided additional support, as did the Center for Investigative Reporting and New American Media. Donnell Herrington, New Orleans resident who nearly died on Sept. 1, 2005, after he was shot by a white vigilante in Algiers Point. When Hurricane Katrina ripped into New Orleans, most people tried to flee. In one neighborhood, however, a band of fifteen to thirty people refused to evacuate. With the police department crippled, these people amassed weapons and began patrolling the streets. Before long, bullets began to fly. Fearing an influx of outsiders, the gunmen of Algiers Point barricaded their streets. Malik Rahim is one of a handful of blacks living in Algiers Point. In the days after Katrina, he says he was threatened at gunpoint by several white neighbors. what we did over the span of eighteen months is we would try to recreate the history. We tried to go back and figure out exactly what happened in basically the two weeks after the storm hit. And so, what I did is I tracked down people like Donnell Herrington. I tracked down people who admitted to being involved in the gunfire, the vigilantes themselves. I tracked down eyewitnesses, people like Malik Rahim. And I asked everyone, What did you see? Dont tell me about what you heard about. Dont tell me about what people told you about. Tell me about what you saw, what you were involved in, what you experienced. And what I came to believe from my interviews was that at least eleven people, all of them African American males, were shot in the Algiers Point neighborhood during about the week after the storm hit. That information was bolstered, one, by a trauma surgeon, the doctor who operated on Donnell, who said, Hey, we had a whole stream of people in our emergency room who had been shot, some of them fatally. He said at least five or six non-fatal gunshot wounds, three fatal gunshot wounds. And he said, Look, I dont think any of these cases have been investigated. I think they went unreported.
Author: gfde08
Keywords: USA America American Hurricane Katrina Flood Victims New Orleans Vigilante Vigilantes Algiers Point Gunmen Race War Black Minyard NOPD Police Homeland Security Army Investigation Glover
Added: December 22, 2008
USA Reality - Katrina - Vigilantes Shooting Black Men.(II)
Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist". - December 19, 2008 Katrinas Hidden Race War: In Aftermath of Storm, White Vigilante Groups Shot 11 African Americans in New Orleans In a shocking new report, The Nation magazine exposes how white vigilante groups patrolled the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, shooting at least eleven African American men. Local police have never conducted investigations into the shootings. We speak to reporter A.C. Thompson and New Orleans resident Donnell Herrington, who nearly died after being shot by a white vigilante. A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter whose latest article Katrinas Hidden Race War appears in The Nation magazine. A.C. Thompsons reporting on New Orleans was directed and underwritten by the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. ProPublica provided additional support, as did the Center for Investigative Reporting and New American Media. Donnell Herrington, New Orleans resident who nearly died on Sept. 1, 2005, after he was shot by a white vigilante in Algiers Point. When Hurricane Katrina ripped into New Orleans, most people tried to flee. In one neighborhood, however, a band of fifteen to thirty people refused to evacuate. With the police department crippled, these people amassed weapons and began patrolling the streets. Before long, bullets began to fly. Fearing an influx of outsiders, the gunmen of Algiers Point barricaded their streets. Malik Rahim is one of a handful of blacks living in Algiers Point. In the days after Katrina, he says he was threatened at gunpoint by several white neighbors. what we did over the span of eighteen months is we would try to recreate the history. We tried to go back and figure out exactly what happened in basically the two weeks after the storm hit. And so, what I did is I tracked down people like Donnell Herrington. I tracked down people who admitted to being involved in the gunfire, the vigilantes themselves. I tracked down eyewitnesses, people like Malik Rahim. And I asked everyone, What did you see? Dont tell me about what you heard about. Dont tell me about what people told you about. Tell me about what you saw, what you were involved in, what you experienced. And what I came to believe from my interviews was that at least eleven people, all of them African American males, were shot in the Algiers Point neighborhood during about the week after the storm hit. That information was bolstered, one, by a trauma surgeon, the doctor who operated on Donnell, who said, Hey, we had a whole stream of people in our emergency room who had been shot, some of them fatally. He said at least five or six non-fatal gunshot wounds, three fatal gunshot wounds. And he said, Look, I dont think any of these cases have been investigated. I think they went unreported.
Author: gfde08
Keywords: USA America American Hurricane Katrina Flood Victims New Orleans Vigilante Vigilantes Algiers Point Gunmen Race War Black Minyard NOPD Police Homeland Security Army Investigation Glover
Added: December 22, 2008
SEC misses Madoff scandal-1/2
As Madoff Scandal Wipes Out Charities and Foundations, SEC Admits it Missed Repeated Warnings on Historic $50B Financial Fraud The Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted it missed repeated opportunities to discover what may be the largest financial fraud in history, a multi-billion-dollar pyramid scheme operated by Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff. Now several non-profits and foundations are being forced to close, because their entire endowments have been wiped out. We speak to Robert Crane of the now-shuttered New York-based JEHT Foundation and ProPublica reporter Paul Kiel. [includes rush transcript]
Author: IWantDemocracyNow
Keywords: madoff charity non profit democracy now fraud deregulation bush
Added: December 18, 2008
Iraq is a 100Billion failure
Federal Report Finds $100B Failure in US Reconstruction of Iraq An unpublished federal report has concluded the US reconstruction effort in Iraq has been a $100 billion failure. It found that the rebuilding has not done much more than restore what was destroyed during the invasion and the looting that followed. We speak to journalist T. Christian Miller of the investigative website ProPublica, who obtained a copy of the report. [includes rush transcript]
Author: IWantDemocracyNow
Keywords: iraq war bush obama demoracy now
Added: December 18, 2008
DN! MADOFF (1 of 2): SEC Admits it Missed Repeated Warnings
http://jesusgodgoodetcnjay.blogspot.com As Madoff Scandal Wipes Out Charities and Foundations, SEC Admits it Missed Repeated Warnings on Historic $50B Financial Fraud The Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted it missed repeated opportunities to discover what may be the largest financial fraud in history, a multi-billion-dollar pyramid scheme operated by Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff. Now several non-profits and foundations are being forced to close, because their entire endowments have been wiped out. We speak to Robert Crane of the now-shuttered New York-based JEHT Foundation and ProPublica reporter Paul Kiel.1
Author: StartLoving1
Keywords: democracy now org democracynow.org amy goodman
Added: December 17, 2008