ProPublica's Giving It Away. Who's Not Taking?

Rex Smith, executive editor of the Albany Times-Union, says the offer to run an investigative story produced by ProPublica was "almost an editor's dream...Here's a great story on a matter of public interest that no one's heard of, and it's thoroughly edited. And it's yours. Free."

But not everyone in his position feels that way.

At the Medill Club panel I mentioned yesterday, former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger revealed something interesting about his new journalism nonprofit: Even in this brutal economic environment, some editors are too proud to accept handouts. Or, as Steiger put it, "some existing platforms are reluctant to work with us."

I followed up afterward to find out what news organizations had given him the brush-off, but Steiger declined to say. (A New York Times spokeswoman says it's not them, at least: "We are not an organization that has shied away from ProPublica.")

But Steiger did have plenty more to say about his new enterprise on Wednesday night, including this explanation for why he got involved in the first place:

I was facing mandatory retirement from the Journal. My wife told me that the first time she found me at home past 10:30 in sweatpants, it was not divorce, it was murder. So I knew I was going to have to find something past 2007 to do.

A few other noteworthy remarks:

-On why ProPublica will make a habit of trying to advance other outlets' scoops: "When an investigative team finishes a story, it doesn't want to do follow-up. It wants to go onto the next story. So the story just sits there like roadkill. And the journalists at other papers don't want to follow it up because why contribute to someone else's Pulitzer?"

-On whether it was strange to go from the bible of capitalism to a progressive nonprofit: "My life is very much like it was when I was running the news staff of The Wall Street Journal. I don't tell Herbert and Marion Sandler what we're working on in advance. I'm the ultimate arbiter of what we cover."

-On his benefactors' promise to keep reinvesting in ProPublica with a three-year time horizon: "When I'm recruiting, I tell people I'm the only editor in America who knows what his news budget's going to be."

It's not always true that having more editors makes things better. At the Journal I was accused of something called 'stadium editing.' When the fifth editor came in on a story, they got hissed.

-On Tribune's efforts to keep a handle on its debt by selling assets: "If they get a good price for the Chicago Cubs, that means maybe less layoffs -- and the Cubs have lost six out of 10, so that's not good."