ProPublica founder on new ways to fund quality journalism

Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief and founder of ProPublica, the non-profit investigative newsroom that just won a Pulitzer Prize in the United States, has joined the programme of the World Editors Forum, to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, from June 7-10. Mr Steiger will make the keynote speech in a session on new ways to finance quality journalism that will also feature John Yemma, editor-in-chief of the Christian Science Monitor, Olav Bergo, editorial advisor for A-Pressen in Norway, and David Cohn, founder of Spot.us and a Knight News Challenge winner in the United States. ProPublica reporter Sheri Fink won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting earlier this month for an article published in August in the New York Times magazine. Two other ProPublica reporters were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for reporting that was published in the Los Angeles Times – an impressive performance for an organisation that was only created in 2008 but has emerged as one of the best investigative journalism operations in the United States. Mr Steiger, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, created ProPublica as an independent, non-profit newsroom to produce investigative journalism in the public interest. It is funded by philanthropic donations, and is a leading example of the new models that are being developed to ensure that adequate financing is available for investigative reporting and quality journalism. The 17th World Editors Forum, along with the 63rd World Newspaper Congress and Info Services Expo, are expected to bring up to 1,500 chief editors, publishers, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives to Lebanon. The events, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra), and hosted by the An-Nahar newspaper, are the global summit meetings of the world's press. Full information, including programme and registration details, can be found at www.wanlebanon2010.com The Editors Forum will focus on key issues for today's editors, who must manage both the collective intelligence of a newsroom and the collective intelligence of bloggers, users and readers. Instead of one unique platform, they have to pilot a minimum of four platforms - print, online, mobile, e-reader/tablet – and five storytelling styles – alerts, written articles, podcasts, video reports and social media buzz. Speakers include: - Marcus Brauchli, executive editor, Washington Post, USA; - Bart Brouwers, managing editor for hyperlocal online media, Telegraaf Media Group, The Netherlands; - Josh Cohen, senior business product manager, Google News, Google, USA; - Alfredo Triviño, director of creative projects, News International, UK; - Wataru Sawamura, foreign editor, Asahi Shimbun, Japan; - Abdel-Moniem Said, chairman, Al-Ahram group in Egypt; -Tom Curley, chief executive of The Associated Press; - Ricardo Gandour, director and executive editor, O Estado de S. Paulo Group, Brazil.