No one ever said this wasn't important

In all the online talk about the death of newspapers, some astute commenters continue to point out that there is one thing newspapers do better than anyone: investigative journalism. A no-brainer, but it does seem to be worth harping on. Nothing says it better than a reading of the Washington Post's series on Walter Reed, which I've linked to a couple times now.

Now the Post is doing another amazing project: Citizen K Street, an online project in serial form, covering a DC lobbying business. The series was done by associate editor Bob Kaiser, who started out doing great investigations on the city desk years ago when I was there. The project is edited by Jeff Leen, another great investigative reporter who got his start at the Miami Herald. Best of all, there's a research editor, Alice Crites. As well as lots of Washingtonpost.com staff work.

Something to keep in mind while reading the Project for Excellence in Journalism's latest report, The State of the News Media 2007.

On the importance of investigative journalism, Bob Stepno has a posting about reading Carl Hiaasen's book Basket Case and how others have noted that Hiaasen makes a profound case for the craft. Some forget that Hiaasen made his mark at the Miami Herald as an investigative journalist, too.

Fodder for would-be investigations: Project Censorship has a list of the '25 most censored news stories' of 2007. Some things here that certainly seem to be worth a better look into by journalists. Did Halliburton really sell nuclear technology to Iran, and did Cheney really make a huge profit on the stock? Are the oceans really dying? Are we making more landmines? Is Roundup really killing people? Sounds like stories I'd like to hear more about.