BuzzFeed Adds Investigative Unit to Growing Editorial Team

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Mark Schoofs will helm an investigative unit of six reporters hired by BuzzFeed, the social media Web site that editorially tracks viral content, The New York Times reported today.

Schoofs, who garnered the award while at the Wall St. Journal for a series of articles on AIDS in Africa, most recently worked for the nonprofit ProPublica. BuzzFeed upped its editorial workforce to 134, having recently hired an equal number of journalists to report on foreign affairs (see "TUOL" post 5/6/13).

Nonprofit News Org. & J-School in Joint Venture

Image via WikipediaThe Explainer. Sounds like the title of a dull comic book superhero, but it is actually the name of a new joint venture by Pulitizer Prize-winning nonprofit investigative newsers ProPublica and New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism.

According to an item by mediabistro blog FishbowlNY, The Explainer will offer background information on current news topics through its Explainer.net Web site, ably assisted by ProPublica editors. Could be useful, but "TUOL" will reserve judgment pending further explanation.