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Teams of reporters and photographers can spend weeks, even months, on one investigative story, the CEO of an investigative journalism support network said Tuesday. And as newspapers keep cutting costs, those long-term projects seem more in danger every year — if they aren't gone already.

"Without investigative journalism, we can't have the free society we've come to cherish," Kevin Davis said to a crowd of about 40 during a weekly Director's Forum at USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. "It's the fulcrum of a successful democracy."

Davis is the new CEO of the Investigative News Network, a fledgling organization that provides financial, legal, public relations and other miscellaneous forms of support for its members' investigative reporting efforts. 

INN was founded in June 2009 at a conference sponsored by the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Investigative Reporting. So far, 42 non-profit news outlets — everything from NPR and American Public Radio to unknown startups — have started using grant money from supporters such as the McCormick Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The organization faces a barrage of issues, Davis said. Grantors clamor for progress reports and concrete ways to measure "impact," which is often difficult to quantify. A recent Gallup poll also shows that only one in four Americans trusts the newspaper. And even if they do, investigative stories are infrequent enough that readers won't have a reason to visit the site every day.

To make anything work, Davis said, grant money will have to go hyper-local.

"How do we reach an audience with a lack of appreciation for what journalists do?" Davis said. "By producing news they care about, and finding money from people who care."

Davis cited projects like the Los Angeles Times's City of Bell salaries investigation and the Washington Post's Top Secret America investigation as important reporting, but largely unaffordable for many organizations.

INN's operating budget is around $500,000 a year, Davis said, which includes paychecks for him and the rest of the staff but doesn't include the money funneled to their members. Recently, the organization received a grant of $200,000 from the Knight Foundation, designated for developing business and revenue models to make INN itself sustainable.

Editor's Note Sept. 8, 2010: A previous version of this article incorrectly said INN received a $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation. The number is actually $200,000. We regret the error.

Reach staff reporter Laura J. Nelson here.

Follow her on Twitter: @laura_nelson.