Chris Ahearn at Reuters has made another sage investment in a non-profit, this time to Jay Rosen’s NewAssignment.Net. Chris is the visionary president of Reuters Media. He is the key driver, along with his colleague Dean Wright, behind Reuters’ partnership with Global Voices.

Chris writes, at Huffington Post:

“While the Internet is rapidly transforming the world of traditional media, it also presents amazing new possibilities in terms of strengthening the investigative arm of journalism. The Internet is the perfect vehicle for galvanizing the public to become more involved in reporting.

“Earlier this year, Reuters made a contribution to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School in support of Global Voices Online * the largest and most successful international bridge for bloggers. Global Voices Online is a select guide to conversations, information and ideas appearing on various forms of participatory citizen media such as blogs, podcasts, photo-sharing sites and videoblogs.

“While encouraging good journalistic ideas is a worthy goal in itself, Reuters believes that supporting new and varied networks of creators with different perspectives is good for both journalism and business.

“Ultimately, journalism is about the story and the pursuit of truth; it is not about the news industry, a j-school or a traditional newsroom structure. By building bridges and finding new ways to augment and accelerate the creation of quality journalism, we believe that ultimately the public will benefit and perhaps change their minds about the noble profession of journalism.”

Richard Sambrook of the BBC comments approvingly on the move here.