There is increased interest in newsrooms I know in how to encourage something larger than Twitter but smaller than Wordpress --- pithy information that serves a role.

Which is why Tumblr seems to be getting more attention in recent weeks. It's an easy-to-use platform and it serves a good niche as a format. Alex Madrigal, a senior online presence at TheAtlantic.com, identifies the new ProPublica Tumblr concept --- Officials Say The Darndest Things --- as a great example of how newsrooms could use it.

Madrigal notes five key attributes: it's not duplicative (ProPublica's focus is on other forms), it's in keeping with the platform (it's not super-serious, but has a purpose), it's low-maintenance (the platform is easy to launch), it's interactive (users can submit), and it's viral (sharing is simple).

It's a good role model for others trying to find the right way to deliver such information.

The conventional wisdom is that the challenging financial state of newspapers will irrevocably harm journalism's capacity to investigate. Historically newspapers have led the craft in enterprise work; as goes they, so goes enterprise, it is thought.

But Paul Steiger, the former Wall Street Journal executive now running the ProPublica non-profit fund for investigative journalism, offers a different argument in a post for McKinsey.

Steiger suggests that a trade-off is occurring --- a loss of some firepower in some places, a gain in others --- and that new models of financing high-quality investigation is emerging.

Among other things, Steiger believes his organization can empower other journalists by providing them tools like databases to explore on their own. He thinks there are many examples surfacing of strong public-minded journalists who simply need other mechanisms to help them excel.