The Political Whore

As the new models for journalism start to emerge, here is another piece of that puzzle, from The New York Times:

Four nonprofit groups devoted to investigative journalism will have their work distributed by The Associated Press, The A.P. will announce on Saturday, greatly expanding their potential audience and helping newspapers fill the gap left by their own shrinking resources.

Starting on July 1, the A.P. will deliver work by the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and ProPublica to the 1,500 American newspapers that are A.P. members, which will be free to publish the material.

The A.P. called the arrangement a six-month experiment that could later be broadened to include other investigative nonprofits, and to serve its nonmember clients, which include broadcast and Internet outlets.

Tampa, as a government, has done better than some in its handling of private nonprofits that it supports over the past three years of tightening budgets. Two years ago, it cut funding to city-owned partners like the Florida Aquarium by 10 percent and other nonprofits by 20 percent. Last year, no cuts were made.

But in the upcoming budget, Mayor Pam Iorio says she will be forced to cut funding to both categories by the same formula as two years ago, 10 percent cuts to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Tampa Theatre, Tampa Museum of Art, and H. B. Plant Museum, and 20 percent cuts to a dozen or so other nonprofits.

The city’s full statement after the jump:

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