HuffPost’s OffTheBus Vet to ProPublica

ProPublica has just tapped Amanda Michell as its editor of distributed reporting. In this position the former director of HuffPost’s OffTheBus will be tasked with finding creative ways to assist ProPublica’s investigative team using the Internet and crowd sourcing.

More from FishbowlNY here and the full memo after the jump.

ProPublica Adds Amanda Michel to its Newsroom

New York, NY (March 3, 2009) — ProPublica today announced that former HuffPost’s OffTheBus Director Amanda Michel will join its investigative newsroom. Michel will become ProPublica’s Editor of Distributed Reporting.

In her new position, Michel will initially use crowd sourcing and collaborative journalism methods to report on the impact of the federal stimulus bill. She will also help integrate these newsgathering techniques into ProPublica’s other investigative efforts. Michel wrote about her experiences with OffTheBus here for the Columbia Journalism Review.

Paul E. Steiger, ProPublica’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief, said, “Amanda will help us move our investigative journalism forward using approaches that were not possible just a few years ago.”

“I’m honored to be working with ProPublica’s phenomenal team of journalists,” said Ms. Michel. “The investigative journalism that drives ProPublica will strengthen the development of networked reporting.”

Prior to her work as the Director of OffTheBus, Michel helped launch NewAssignment.Net’s first project Assignment Zero, served as the Director of Communications at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, was a co-founder of the New Organizing Institute and worked in various media, organizing and strategic roles for political campaigns.

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. With the largest news staff in American journalism devoted solely to investigative reporting, ProPublica is supported entirely by philanthropy and provides the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own web site and to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article.

For more information, please visit ProPublica.org

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