The non-profit venture, Pro Publica, will propose its stories to relevant newspapers and magazines. Its operations are to begin early next year.

This is an all-new model for journalism, after recent launches of non-profit, online-only (or online-mostly) news sources (MinnPost.com, Politico…). The venture is funded by former former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, Herbert M. and Marion O. Sandler, who committed $10 million a year to the project.

Pro Publica plans to have a newsroom in New York with 24 journalists, whose salaries will be comparable to that of big newspapers.

“I won’t be offering somebody 50 grand or 100 grand more than they’re making to jump ship, nor will I ask them to take a pay cut,” said Steiger, who will be editor of Pro Publica.

While newspapers often rely on wire services, they tended to seldom use reporting from other organizations – until now.

“They’re looking for alternative means of paying for ambitious journalism,” said Stephen B. Shepard, former BusinessWeek editor. “Steiger has the credibility and judgment to bring this off, and if they do good work, it will get picked up.”

The task won’t be easy, and Steiger admits that relationships with the news outlets could be tricky, depending on the amount of oversight they want.

Until last May, Steiger had been managing editor of the Journal for 16 years. The newsroom won 16 Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.

Source: The New York Times