The Huffington Post is launching a fund that will support investigative reporting. The initial budget of $1.75 million is expected to pay for 10 staff journalists who will coordinate stories with freelancers.
Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, said concern over the layoffs at newspapers hurting investigative journalism prompted the move. She hopes to hire laid-off journalists for the project.
Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said.
The first topic the journalists will be expected to delve into is the nation’s economy.
The Huffington Post skews liberal, but its founder promised that the work done by the investigative fund would be nonpartisan. The group would be discredited quickly if it puts out faulty information, said Nick Penniman, the fund’s executive director.
“We care about democracy, not Democrats,” he said.
