Spies: Contractors Make Up Quarter of U.S. Spies, Cost Two-Thirds More Each

Contractors account for 26 percent of the core U.S. intelligence espionage-related workforce, says this item in The Los Angeles Times. While officials claim contracting out helps agencies control costs, the story reports spy agencies spend $207,000 a year for a contract worker, 66 percent more than the $125,000 yearly cost of a government employee. Twenty-seven percent of contractors are involved in intelligence collection and operations, 19 percent work in analysis, and 22 percent in infotech. The total U.S. spy budget is reported as $43 billion.

TAGS: spies, interesting, contractor

Investigations: New Statesman Web 2.0 Experiment Flounders Amid Anti-Semitic Diatribes

An interesting experiment in crowd-inspired investigative journalism at the UK's New Statesman newspaper (see here) is yielding bizarre results. The idea is to allow readers to vote on one of five topics for the newspaper to investigate - from the influence of lobbying to "the state of British childhood" and Prince Charles' "meddling" in politics. The hands-down winner so far - with 85 percent of votes - is the impact of Britain's crackdown on asylum seekers, which has left many destitute on the streets. But the readers' comments further down on the page take the experiment veering off in a rather different direction. The first one starts off with the suggestion that the newspaper look into "the power of the Jewish lobby in the British media and politics," followed by "the real purpose of the DNA data base and the master race/programmed death/birth." This comment prompted others of a similar ilk, the discussion of which is pretty much what dominates that page right now. Good intentions, New Statesman, but if you're going to use Web 2.0, learn about moderating comments.

TAGS: investigations, future of journalism, the biz, Web 2.0, citizen journalism

The Biz: Flat Earth News Author on the Future of Journalism

All reporting is investigative. On the other hand, the increasing demand of needing to file for multiple platforms makes the job of basic reporting much harder for the average sluggo out there. Those are some of the insights of acclaimed Guardian investigative writer Nick Davies, author of the new book Flat Earth News, in this Q&A on the Editors Weblog as he ponders our fast-changing craft. See more on Davies' book at his site here. "Finally I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession," he writes on his site. In his book, Davies reveals the story of how one newspaper allowed the CIA and MI6 to plant fiction in its columns; how execs rejected stories about black people; and how a law-and-order-backing paper hired investigators to steal information.

TAGS: future of journalism, online journalism, the biz

Interesting: Journalists' Group Rapped for Pharma Sponsorship

Pharmaceutical companies are getting heat in some quarters about how their sales reps cozy up to doctors as part of drug marketing campaigns that include sponsorship of continuing education events, free samples and meals. Now, a journalists' association is under fire for allowing pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to host a lunch seminar at its convention in Chicago on diabetes issues, according to this item from health reporter Ed Silverman's Pharmalot blog, also reported on at the Wall Street Journal's health blog here. Guess what products Novo Nordisk specializes in? (Hint: it rhymes with "shmiabetes.")

TAGS: interesting, pharma, drug, conflict-of-interest