A handful of experienced investigative hacks, from those who exposed MP's expenses to those who exposed corruption in sport, have launched a new fund to help support independent funded high-quality investigative journalism.
They include the likes of Nick Davies, writer of the book Flat Earth News, the star of the expenses revelations, Freedom of Information Campaigner Heather Brooke, (offering tips in video above) and Martin Bright, who has worked as political editor of the News Statesman, Home Affairs Editor of The Observer, and reported for the BBC world service and Channel 4's Dispatches programme. In 2006 he won the Magazine Journalism Award for exclusive of the year for his work on the rendition of terror suspects.
The Brief
Their mission brief is this: "The newly-formed Foundation for Investigative Reporting is launching a campaign to help secure the future of public interest reporting in the UK. We are setting up a fund that will support the kind of risky, challenging reporting for which there is a crying demand — and as an experiment to seek out new ways to support this vital work."
They add: "We urgently need to hear from you with your thoughts, pledges of any form of support, or the sort of big idea or information about something you believe should be investigated — and isn't."Can you think of anything that you want investigated or followed up? To pledge your support for this cause, or suggest a story to be followed up GO HERE.
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
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