Investigative journalism costs time and money. Consider this recent news fact: Prison investigation by Mother Jones journalist Shane Bauer took over 18 months and cost about $350K; banner ads that ran on the article brought in just $5K. Good investigative journalism is also comprehensive. The Mother Jones story in numbers:

35,000 words long, 5 to 10 times the length of a typical feature, plus charts, graphs, and companion pieces, as well as six videos and a radio documentary.