Big week for ProPublica
It's funny how things you've never paid attention to suddenly
get on your radar screen and stay there. It's been that kind of week
for me with ProPublica, the two-year-old non-profit newsroom that produces
investigative journalism. Yesterday, one of its reporters, Sheri Fink, won the Pulitzer for
investigative reporting, about the decisions made by a hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Just this past Saturday I found myself scurrying to Google to learn more about ProPublica. That's because they'd produced a phenomenon report aired on NPR's "This American Life" in partnership with NPR's "Planet Money."
They spent seven months investigating the inside story of one hedge fund -- Magnatar --that made hundreds of millions of dollars while worsening thefinancial crisis. It was done with the usual clarity, brilliance and entertainment valueI've come to expect from "Planet Money" -- including musical analogies to the Broadway show, "The Producers."
They even produced their own inspired Broadway song, "Bet Against the American Dream" which ended the segment and does, in fact, deserve to be on Broadway.
Watch the song being recorded here:
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