A National Endowment for ... Journalism?

After our JOUR599 phone conference with Jon Sawyer from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, I started checking out some of the folks he works with, as I would like to be one. Low and behold, on his list of reporters I found some fellow Seattlites; Sarah Stuteville, Alex Stonehill and Jessica Partnow, along with several others, make up 'Common Language Project,' a wonderful new model for international investigative reporting. As I was exploring the C.L.P. site (check them out facebook) , I came across a blog by Alex arguing for the creation of a National Endowment for Journalism. This is something I've been thinking about myself, and frankly I was a bit jealous that Alex beat me to it. But I have to say, that his editorial is really interesting and well written. Check it out if you care about the future of journalism in the United States. I think he's onto something. My question is how do we get Washington to pay attention in the middle of an economic crisis? Although creating a National Endowment for Journalism may seem indulgent in the middle of a recession, it is precisely at this moment when we need serious investigative reporting. Creating such an endowment would put laid off journalists to work and keep the Fourth Estate alive during this critical time in American history. What do you think?