J-Topics

The Nova Scotia government has cut the fee for applications under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to $5 from $25, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reports. The rate change is effective immediately. Mary Agnes Welch, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists said...

When breaking news hits, the first available reporter grabs the phones or hits the street. There's no time for fancy database analysis or in-depth investigation. Or is there?

Britain is following the lead of the United States in establishing an independent investigative journalism fund.

A number of prominent British journalists have banded together to create The Investigations Fund, supporting public interest journalism. Its mission: "to support the sort of investigation of grass root stories and services that is dying by the minute as local newspapers are hit hard; and to support those many stories of vital public interest in Britain that have an important international connection, particularly in the developing world, but where the costs of chasing down the truth may seem prohibitively high."

The Potter Foundation in Britain has provided two million pounds to create a bureau of investigative journalism in connection with the initiative. See story in the Guardian.

I.F. Stone made significant contributions to investigative journalism at a time in the U.S. when holding powerful institutions to account was seen as unpatriotic and disloyal, writes Cecil Rosner in this review of D.D. Guttenplan's new biography American Radical The Life and Times of I.F. Stone.