Investigative reporting/non-profit model

I'm thinking of doing my research project on the demise of investigative reporting as newspapers continue to lose money and whether it can be saved by the rise of a non-profit media model.

The idea was spurred by a Poynter column on The Huffington Post jumping into investigative reporting with the help of some philanthropists. HufPo is the most recent organization to go this direction, but it's certainly not the first.

Will Sullivan at Poynter points out that ProPublica and The Center for Public Integrity employ similar models.

My research would focus on the viability of these ventures and whether there is a real need for them. Investigative reporting has been the teeth of the media since Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke Watergate, but is it really going anywhere? These non-profit organizations have been born out of a fear that shrinking budgets are eroding investigative journalism, but is the fear a reality?

And can a non-profit organization really make enough money to support a base of investigative journalists large enough to generate a steady stream of users to their Web sites? At newspapers, investigative reporters spend months -- sometimes years -- reporting stories. With such a large gap between investigative stories, can these Web sites build the same buzz that a daily, general interest newspaper does?

I guess we'll see.