Who is PA's mystery public service funder?

Yesterday's announcement by Tony Watson, editor-in-chief of the Press Association, that the agency will test a 'public service' reporting service covering courts, councils and other vital public bodies is intriguing. Giving evidence to the parliamentary Select Committee on the future of regional newspapers, Watson outlined the plan to hire half a dozen journalists for a pilot project on Merseyside in the autumn.

The service will be freely available to newspaper publishers. Watson told the committee: "I would class 'public service reporting' as the coverage of those public institutions which have power and influence over people's lives, and the coverage of those activities is essential to a healthy democracy,

"We are proposing to launch a pilot project which is aimed at trying to see if there is content around these institutions that is not finding its way into the media because of pressure on resources. The only way to do that is to send reporters into an area for a defined period and point them at those institutions, see what comes out and see what the take-up might be."

It's certainly an idea of our time. Newspaper editors are finding it difficult to justify the expense of sending reporters to lengthy meetings and court cases without being guaranteed a story at the end of it, and there's no doubt the public is less well informed as a result. But how will it be paid for? Watson rather tantalisingly told the Guardian that the pilot, which it is carrying out in partnership with Trinity Mirror, would be "independently funded" - and that the money was not from a newspaper publisher.

At a time when funding for public service journalism is uppermost in many minds - including the authors of the recent Digital Britain report - it's a fascinating mystery.