Paul Steiger, former editor in chief at the Wall Street Journal, will be leading a new organization called ProPublica. The organization will be the nation's largest nonprofit center for investigative journalism. It is backed by Herbert and Marion Sandler, liberal billionaires with close ties to George Soros. They announced in October that they will donate $10 million annually for at least three years and maybe more to create a nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to investigative reporting.

According to Mr. Sandler, the mission of ProPublica will be strictly nonpartisan and "on the side of the underdog." Mr. Sandler says, "I am deeply opposed to wealthy people who exploit the poor, powerful people who prey on the weak, and government representatives who betray the trust of the people they supposedly represent."

The goal of ProPublica is to expose abuses in government, business, universities, nonprofits labor unions. Mr. Steiger told the Sandlers that he would only get involved with the organization if it was truly nonpartisan.

When he asked them what would be their response to a hypothetical article "devastating to the biggest union supporters of the Democratic Party," the Sandlers said, "No problem."