This piece was co-authored by Tom Glaisyer and Jennifer Preston at Knight Foundation
We believe that journalism is essential to building informed and engaged communities, and that a healthy democracy requires a robust and independent press. For the last decade, as the digital disruption of the traditional business model for journalism has led to deep cuts in newsrooms across the county, nonprofit news organizations have filled critical gaps by providing vital news and information to communities, delivering investigative and beat reporting with pioneering models.
The future and mission of nonprofit journalism has never been more important as trust in the news media is at an all time low and people are searching for reliable news in their social and mobile streams. Today, the Democracy Fund and Knight Foundation welcome other funders and supporters to join a new matching gifts fund to support nonprofit news. Democracy Fund and Knight Foundation are pledging $2 million in 2017 to kick off a campaign to support nonprofit journalism, with an additional $750,000 committed to help nonprofit organizations build the capability and capacity they need to put them on the path of sustainability.
Photo by Hamza Butt, used via creative commons
The new fund builds on the success of last fall’s Knight News Match, which helped 57 nonprofit news organizations across the country raise more than $1.2 million in matching donations from small donors. This year’s effort significantly expands the number of newsrooms eligible to participate and increases opportunities for both place-based and national foundations to support the matching gifts program.
The objective of this fund is to support nonprofit newsrooms delivering local, beat and investigative reporting. To be eligible to participate, nonprofit newsrooms must be full members of the Institute for Nonprofit News in September 2017. The program will begin in the fall so that the matching gifts program can be used as a way to reach new donors and appeal to recent donors during the critical end-of-year fundraising season.
To support the matching gifts program and help put nonprofit news on the path to sustainability, Democracy Fund and Knight have committed $750,000 dollars to support the most effective strategies, tools and best practices for long-term sustainability. These investments will allow the Institute for Nonprofit News, Local Independent Online News, and the News Revenue Hub to help local newsrooms expand their donor base, develop successful membership programs, and make the case for supporting journalism in their communities.
We believe this is a profoundly important moment for journalism in America. Our communities and our country need journalism that reflects and responds to the diverse needs of all Americans. In the face of the hollowing out of the traditional industry, nonprofit news sites offer a chance to restore local coverage and deliver expert beat reporting, but they require the support of their communities. Whether you can give five dollars or five hundred to the participating nonprofit news organization of your choice, News Match will double it.
More details about the fund will be announced in the fall. In the meantime, Democracy Fund and Knight Foundation will continue to invite additional partners to join the fund, especially community and place-based foundations who recognize that news and information is an indispensable community asset, and want to leverage the fund to further amplify support.
Welcome to the Local Fix. Each week we look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news. But first, we always begin with one good idea… today we have ten.
The Online News Association conference is happening this week and there have been a ton of announcements. Which ones are worth paying attention to for local newsrooms? We try to dissect them below. Let us know what you are most excited about.
3) Better News debuts as new resource to help news innovators learn, plan and do.Why it Matters: The American Press Institute has basically taken resources from around the web and turned them into a powerful, searchable, action oriented text book for transforming newsrooms. There is a lot of smart, proven tools and ideas here.
5) News Match Opens with $3 Million in Matching Support for Nonprofit Newsrooms Across the Country.Why it Matters: 110 newsrooms around the country, many small local newsrooms, will be raising money between now and the end of the year and every single donation under $1000 will get doubled. News Match also launched a first of its kind single website where people can give to multiple newsrooms at once.
9) ONA launches the next stage of their Women’s Leadership Accelerator.Why it Matters: The accelerator is a weeklong forum aimed squarely at developing strong leadership skills for women working in digital journalism, and supports women who are leading change and innovation in the field.
Bonus) Thanks @AlexandraLeighS for sharing a photo with our local news themed postcards. Find them in your ONA tote bag, and share a photo with us. You can also use them old-school style as postcards to tell us about the great stuff you’re working on in local news.
Have a good weekend and find us at ONA,
Josh and Teresa
@jcstearns, @gteresa
The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which invests in innovations and institutions that are reinventing local media and expanding the public square. Disclosure: Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund, you can find a full list of the organizations we support on our website.
By Andrea Hart, City Bureau and Molly de Aguiar, News Integrity Initiative
Back in August, a journalist based in Birmingham, Alabama, wrote about the then-upcoming primary for the special election to fill an empty Senate seat: “If Roy Moore wins the primary, and the Democratic candidate turns out voters in higher-than-expected numbers, or if GOP voters rest on deep-red laurels and skip the polls altogether, then voilá: Alabama’s turned purple.
It was careful, local reporting from a local reporter writing for Scalawag, a relatively new arrival to the nonprofit journalism landscape, one that prides itself on its authentic attachment to the places it writes about, whether Columbus County, North Carolina, rural Alabama or the new Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi.
Across the U.S., communities increasingly rely on nonprofit newsrooms for their news and information. Traditional news sources are shrinking and many have disappeared entirely. In that vacuum, nonprofit news becomes a powerful watchdog — but also a vital convener, public advocate, fact-checker and community bulletin board. It matters greatly who works in these growing newsrooms and who is represented in their reporting. Trust in news cannot and will not be rebuilt unless newsrooms fully represent people from all backgrounds.
No matter where you live or which issue you care about there are nonprofit newsrooms who embody these values and need your support.
On the South Side of Chicago, a 2.5-year-old journalism lab called City Bureau is one of them. Working to reimagine accountable and inclusive local news, City Bureau has created a community-centered media space and even co-designed its membership program with the community to ensure the organization remains independent. By sharing the power of journalism with the community, City Bureau is creating better information systems and making accountability more accessible. For instance, their fellows have not only tackled issues of lead contaminated in water, policing in schools, and restorative justice in print but also brought this data back to the community through events. The Documenters program pays concerned citizens to cover public meetings; the 300 Documenters come from all over the city and range from 16 to 73 years old.
Attendees at City Bureau’s May 11 Public Newsroom workshop, “Who tells the story of Englewood” with Englewood-based photographer and City Bureau photojournalism fellowship alum, Tonika Johnson.
Newsrooms like City Bureau that put the public at the center of their work transform communities from the group up. Here are some more of the ways they are doing that:
365 Media Foundation is working in Madison, Wisconsin, to use excellent journalism to start conversations, find real and lasting solutions, build community, invite action and encourage emerging leaders in Greater Madison’s communities of color, and to foster dialog between members of diverse communities.
In Oakland, Youth Radio trains next generation storytellers to provide a youth-led, alternative perspective to the prevailing media dialogue.
Centro de Periodismo Investigativo is the only investigative reporting outlet in Puerto Rico and, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, has documented the true death toll of the disaster in the face of much-lower official statistics.
And there are others: Injustice Watch, Georgia News Lab, the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and Southern California’s Voice of OC. During News Match, the largest-ever national campaign to support nonprofit news, the News Integrity Initiative is supporting these 10 nonprofit newsrooms who put values into practice and work to cultivate diversity within news organizations as well as in the media ecosystem overall, paving new paths for diverse ownership and leadership in the field. Individual donations to the 10 newsrooms are eligible for an additional match — ensuring donor impact will go three times as far.
In addition, the more than 100 news organizations in News Match will participate in the American Society of News Editors’ annual diversity survey, an important industry-wide barometer of diversity in the news industry. Participation by nonprofit newsrooms will help organizations, donors and philanthropic supporters build toward a sector where equity is a core principle.
This year your donation matters more than ever. Without you, stories that represent the full diversity of the country, provide an alternative to what news has traditionally offered, and offer a path toward a new relationship between news and the public will go untold.
Local news is critical to a healthy democracy, and we believe that the future of local news is local.
This simple idea has shaped the way Democracy Fund has thought about its work to support and strengthen the public square in America.
Today, we are announcing two new locally-based and locally-driven funds – totaling more than $2 million – that will invest in ideas, people, and organizations that are working to ensure people have access to the news and information they need in these communities. The funds will focus on building more healthy news ecosystems as a vital part of just communities and a healthy democracy.
These funds are not focused on maintaining the status quo in local news, but on pushing forward changes that improve how journalism serves the public and makes news and information more resilient over the long term. Through these funds, we will work closely with local partners to increase giving to local news and invest in long-term solutions — over short-term fixes — especially in the areas of business models, collaboration and community engagement.
In New Jersey, we will build on our previous work in partnership with the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Knight Foundation by establishing the New Jersey Local News Lab Fund with $1.3 million over two years. New Jersey has become a bold laboratory for new models of collaboration, revenue experiments, and community engagement (read more about previous work in New Jersey in this report). This new fund will continue that momentum and help broaden the work there beyond newsrooms to other civic information networks and institutions.
The two funds, housed at the Community Foundation of New Jersey and North Carolina Community Foundation, will be managed by advisory groups made up of local stakeholders and Democracy Fund. As a national funder we recognize that we are guests in these communities and have set these funds up to ensure funding decisions are rooted in local knowledge and experience. We take seriously the advice from longtime philanthropy leader Pru Brown who wrote in a paper prepared for Democracy Fund, “ultimately, perhaps the most useful lens for place-based philanthropy is asking at every stage whether the decisions the national foundation is making and the way it is operating promote or undermine local ownership.”
A key goal of these funds is to catalyze new momentum locally around supporting local public-interest news that serves all communities. As such, both funds are built as open platforms for partnership with other funders and donors. We are working closely with local and regional foundations in each state to expand the size of the funds, leveraging even more dollars to support local news and information efforts. That work is ongoing, and we look forward to sharing more about the amazing partners we are working with in the coming weeks and months.
This work is just a piece of Democracy Fund’s broader work on local news, which includes the national NewsMatch campaign, revenue research, and shared services like Membership Puzzle Project and News Revenue Hub. Additionally, Democracy Fund supports bridge builders and network connectors in local regions who are on the frontlines of weaving together stronger news ecosystems through collaboration and capacity building.
We are thrilled and humbled by this work and by the people who are working with us. Democracy Fund is committed to working in deep partnership with local communities, to learning, and to operating transparently and openly. If you are interested in working with us reach out at LocalNewsLab@democracyfund.org and sign up for our weekly newsletter The Local Fix.
The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund is pleased to open its first call for applications. We are looking for ideas from community groups, newsrooms, libraries and anyone who wants to help ensure that all North Carolinians have access to the local news and information they need to make their communities thrive.
The Fund is asking for one-page letters submitted through an online system that share how your organization or project will help build the state’s capacity for more relevant and useful news and information for North Carolina’s communities.
On this page, you’ll find more information about the fund, how to apply, the timeline for proposals, and advice for what to include in your letter. (Llame a Language Service Solution marcando (919) 949-9272 con preguntas sobre nuestra traducción.)
This is the first open call at the fund. We value your feedback, questions and want to hear from you. Our goal is to make this accessible to as many people and organizations as we can. If you are not sure if you are a fit, if anything isn’t clear, or if you want to offer feedback, please write localnewslab@democracyfund.org. You can also join an open office hour March 14 at 1 p.m. ET to ask questions about the application.
How can we help local news survive, transform, and thrive? This question will not be answered by one person, one organization, or one innovation. Instead, it will be answered by local ecosystems that have many players, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, coming together to be greater than the sum of their parts. It will look different everywhere around the country, but without this systemic approach, local news cannot survive.
This theory is at the core of the work of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, which is announcing $500,000 in grants today. NCLNL’s goal is to support people and organizations working to build a healthier local news and information ecosystem in North Carolina. It is a collaborative fund at the North Carolina Community Foundation, established by a group of local and national funders who believe in the power of local journalism, local stories, and local people to strengthen our democracy.
The grants were selected by an advisory board with representatives from the following foundations: A.J. Fletcher Foundation, Democracy Fund, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Prentice Foundation, and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, as well as subject matter experts from North Carolina Central University and NC Congress of Latino Organizations.
The fund’s first grants go to organizations working to expand access to critical news and information for all North Carolina communities. This cohort represents the fund’s commitment to supporting a diverse set of organizations pursuing meaningful projects to better serve local communities and strengthen the news and information ecosystem overall. Each of these grantees also represent vital networks of people, communities, and organizations that will engage and collaborate with their work.
It is, as Fiona Morgan wrote in “Learning from North Carolina,” a manifestation of how “North Carolina’s news ecosystem will likely succeed best as a network of networks, with distinct areas where people join forces, share resources or collaborate.”
From fact-checking to training the next generation of journalists, these projects epitomize the many facets of building a healthy news ecosystem.
These grantees are working to build new infrastructure for independent media, recognizing that we have to work together to meet the full needs of our communities. Across these efforts we saw a deep commitment to community and collaboration and a generosity and determination to openly share and jointly build a bold future for North Carolina.
Word on the Street/La Voz de los Jóvenes trainees in Asheville. Photo by Sekou Coleman.
Carolina Public Press: North Carolina Investigative Journalism Collaborative – Carolina Public Press is an independent nonprofit news organization established in 2011 with a focus on in-depth and investigative news in Western North Carolina. In 2018, it expanded to cover the entire state. CPP will lead the North Carolina Investigative Journalism Collaborative, which will launch collaborations between state and local media outlets, organize listening sessions between residents and members of the media statewide, and experiment with new ways to generate its own self-sustaining revenue.
Duke University Reporters Lab: North Carolina Fact-Checking Project – The North Carolina Fact-Checking Project is a collaborative effort focused on the 2018 state elections and 2019 state legislative session, providing rigorous fact-checked content for publications and broadcast programs statewide. The project aims to increase fact-checking coverage of public officials and candidates. It brings together partners with deep experience in substantive fact-checking with an innovative edge, including the Duke Reporters Lab, the News & Observer, and the Reese News Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
NC Health News: General Operating Support – North Carolina Health News is a leading news source on information about health care for residents, policymakers, lobbyists, and healthcare workers across North Carolina. With this grant, the NC Health News staff will continue and strengthen the organization’s work.
NC Press Association: Training Program – The North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) supports newspapers statewide, offers a legal hotline, and hosts an annual convention. The NCPA is focused on a defending “the public’s right to know” by advocating for open government and championing First Amendment freedoms.
UNC Center for Public TV: Public Media NC and HBCU Radio Together – Radio stations at historically black colleges and universities in North Carolina are a valuable resource for local, relevant, and timely news for the communities they serve. This collaboration between HBCU radio stations and UNC-TV will give all involved an opportunity to learn from each other and collaborate across mediums.
UNC School of Media and Journalism: Trail Blazer – The Trail Blazer project will help sustain long-term coverage of stories by simplifying the research process for journalists in North Carolina. Through a mobile-friendly website, it willprovide a comprehensive, updated, simple-to-navigate repository for journalists, including limited-scope facts, timelines, annotated documents, and links to existing articles. The core concepts of the Trail Blazer project were developed by veteran journalist Vaughn Hagerty, who broke a story about the presence of the chemical GenX in Cape Fear River.
WNCU 90.7 FM: Advancement of Emerging Young, Diverse News Journalists – WNCU 90.7FM is a public radio station that serves partly as a hub to train young journalists at North Carolina Central University. The Advancement of Emerging Young, Diverse News Journalists project will train a diverse, inclusive, and underrepresented group of student reporters via the WNCU radio station and the student newspaper, The Campus Echo.
Working Narratives: Wilmington Media Ecology Project – Working Narratives focuses on reporting on pressing social challenges such as media justice, mass incarceration, and health equity. Founded in 2011, the organization works at the local and regional level to “tell great stories that inspire, activate and enliven our democracy.” The Wilmington Media Ecology Project will train citizens to produce and report their own stories through performance, radio, video, and other forms.
Individually these are all great projects and organizations, and taken together they begin to connect people and communities across North Carolina in new ways. We are thrilled by the work these organizations will do, but this is just the beginning. We had more than 70 ideas submitted to the NCLNL through the application process, many of them addressing important needs and opportunities that we want to work on in the future.
The advisory board of the Fund — Brett Chambers (North Carolina Central University), Elena Conley (Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation), Damon Circosta (A.J. Fletcher Foundation) Teresa Gorman (Democracy Fund) Bobbi Hapgood (Prentice Foundation), Ivan Kohar Parra (NC Congress of Latino Organizations), Sorien Schmidt (Z Smith Reynolds Foundation) and Josh Stearns (Democracy Fund) — were inspired and challenged by the scope and creativity of the proposals we received. It was incredibly difficult to pick just a few grantees in this round.
There are many possibilities, and as we all know, there has never been a more important time to strengthen news and information on the local level.
In partnership with the advisory board, funder partners, and others, including Democracy Fund Senior Consultant Melanie Sill, the NCLNL will continue to explore ways to support and strengthen North Carolina’s local news ecosystem. This will include future grantmaking and convenings. It will not be done in a vacuum. We will strive to live the NCLNL’s stated values of learning, diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation, and transparency, and continue to share updates from our grantees and others here on the Local News Lab.
¿Cómo podemos ayudar a que las noticias locales sobrevivan, se transformen y prosperen? Esta pregunta no será respondida por una persona, una organización o una innovación. En cambio, será respondida por ecosistemas locales conformados por muchos integrantes, cada uno con sus fortalezas y debilidades, que se unen para ser más grandes que la suma de sus partes. Será diferente en distintas partes del país, pero sin este enfoque sistémico, las noticias locales no pueden sobrevivir.
Esta teoría es la base del trabajo del Fondo Local News Lab de Carolina del Norte, que anuncia hoy $500.000 en subvenciones. El objetivo de NCLNL (por sus siglas en inglés) es apoyar a personas y organizaciones que trabajan para construir un ecosistema local de noticias e información más saludable en Carolina del Norte. Este es un fondo colaborativo de la North Carolina Community Foundation, establecido por un grupo de donantes locales y nacionales que creen en el poder del periodismo local, las historias locales y la gente local para el fortalecimiento de nuestra democracia.
Las subvenciones fueron seleccionadas por una junta asesora con representantes de las siguientes fundaciones: Fundación AJ Fletcher, Democracy Fund, Fundación Mary Reynolds Babcock, Fundación Prentice, y la Fundación Z Smith Reynolds, así como expertos en la materia de la Universidad Central de Carolina del Norte y NC Congress of Latino Organizations.
Las primeras subvenciones del fondo se destinan a organizaciones que trabajan para ampliar el acceso a noticias e información críticas para todas las comunidades de Carolina del Norte. Este grupo representa el compromiso del fondo para apoyar un conjunto diverso de organizaciones que persiguen proyectos significativos que pueden servir de mejor manera a las comunidades locales y fortalecer el ecosistema en general. Cada uno de estos cesionarios también representa redes vitales de personas, comunidades y organizaciones que se comprometerán y colaborarán con ellos en su trabajo.
Es, como escribió Fiona Morgan en “Learning from North Carolina,” [“Aprendiendo de Carolina del Norte”], una manifestación de cómo “el ecosistema de noticias de Carolina del Norte probablemente tendrá mayor éxito como una red de redes, con áreas distintas donde las personas unen fuerzas, comparten recursos o colaboran”.
Desde la verificación de hechos hasta la capacitación de la próxima generación de periodistas, estos proyectos resumen las múltiples facetas de la construcción de un ecosistema saludable de noticias.
Estos cesionarios están trabajando para construir una nueva infraestructura para medios independientes, reconociendo que tenemos que trabajar juntos para satisfacer la totalidad de necesidades de nuestras comunidades. A través de estas iniciativas pudimos observar un profundo compromiso con la comunidad, colaboración, generosidad y determinación para compartir abiertamente y construir conjuntamente un futuro audaz para Carolina del Norte.
Carolina Public Press: Colaborativo de Periodismo Investigativo de Carolina del Norte– Carolina Public Press es una organización de noticias independiente sin fines de lucro establecida en 2011 con un enfoque en noticias investigativas y a profundidad en el oeste de Carolina del Norte. En 2018, se expandió para cubrir todo el estado. CPP dirigirá North Carolina Investigative Journalism Collaborative, el cual encaminará colaboraciones entre los medios estatales y locales, organizará sesiones de escucha entre residentes y miembros de los medios de todo el estado y experimentará con nuevas formas de generar sus propios ingresos de forma auto sostenible.
Colectivo de Comunicación Participativa de Carolina del Norte (CCPNC): Enlace Latino NC – Enlace Latino NC es una plataforma digital en español que ofrece noticias sobre política e inmigración a nivel local, estatal y nacional durante un momento crítico de necesidad para la comunidad latina de Carolina del Norte. Con esta subvención, Enlace Latino NC se enfocará en aumentar su capacidad, agregar más recursos e informar sobre asuntos clave.
Duke University Reporters Lab: Proyecto de Verificación de Hechos de Carolina del Norte –North Carolina Fact-Checking Project es un esfuerzo colaborativo centrado en las elecciones estatales de 2018 y la sesión legislativa estatal de 2019, que proporciona contenido riguroso verificado para publicaciones y programas de difusión en todo el estado. El proyecto tiene como objetivo aumentar la cobertura de verificación de hechos de funcionarios públicos y candidatos. Reúne a socios con una profunda experiencia en comprobación de hechos sustantivos con una ventaja innovadora, que incluye a Duke Reporters Lab, News & Observer, y Reese News Lab de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Chapel Hill.
NC Health News: Soporte Operativo General – North Carolina Health News es una fuente de noticias líder en información sobre atención médica para residentes, legisladores, cabilderos y trabajadores de la salud en todo Carolina del Norte. Con esta subvención, el personal de NC Health News continuará y fortalecerá el trabajo de la organización.
NC Press Association: Programa de Capacitación – The North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) sirve de apoyo a periódicos de todo el estado, ofrece una línea de asistencia legal y organiza una convención anual. La NCPA se enfoca en defender “el derecho del público a saber” abogando por un gobierno abierto y defendiendo las libertades de la Primera Enmienda.
UNC Center for Public TV: Colaboración Entre Public Media NC y HBCU – Las estaciones de radio en universidades históricamente negras y universidades en Carolina del Norte son un recurso valioso para noticias locales, relevantes y oportunas para las comunidades a las que sirven. Esta colaboración entre las estaciones de radio HBCU y UNC-TV brindará a todos los participantes la oportunidad de aprender unos de otros y colaborar a través de los distintos medios.
UNC School of Media and Journalism: Trail Blazer – El proyecto Trail Blazer ayudará a mantener la cobertura a largo plazo de las historias simplificando el proceso de investigación para los periodistas en Carolina del Norte. A través de un sitio web optimizado para dispositivos móviles, proporcionará un repositorio completo, actualizado y fácil de navegar para los periodistas, que incluye hechos de alcance limitado, cronogramas, documentos comentados y enlaces a artículos existentes. Los conceptos básicos del proyecto Trail Blazer fueron desarrollados por el veterano periodista Vaughn Hagerty, quien publicó una historia sobre la presencia de la sustancia química GenX en el río Cape Fear.
WNCU: Promoción de Periodistas Emergentes, Jóvenes y Diversos– WNCU es una estación de radio pública que sirve en parte como centro de capacitación para periodistas jóvenes en la Universidad Central de Carolina del Norte. El proyecto Advancement of Emerging Young, Diverse News Journalists capacitará a un grupo diverso, inclusivo y sub-representado de periodistas estudiantiles a través de la estación de radio WNCU y el periódico estudiantil, The Campus Echo.
Working Narratives: Proyecto Ecológico de Medios de Comunicación de Wilmington– Working Narratives se enfoca en informar sobre desafíos sociales apremiantes como la justicia de los medios, el encarcelamiento masivo y la equidad en la salud. Fundada en 2011, la organización trabaja a nivel local y regional para “contar grandes historias que inspiren, activen y enaltezcan nuestra democracia”. El Proyecto Ecológico Wilmington capacitará a los ciudadanos para producir e informar sus propias historias a través de presentaciones, radio, video y otras formas.
Individualmente, estos son grandes proyectos y organizaciones, y en conjunto, comienzan a conectar a personas y comunidades en todo Carolina del Norte de nuevas maneras. Estamos encantados con el trabajo que estas organizaciones harán, pero esto es solo el comienzo. Tuvimos más de 70 ideas enviadas al NCLNL a través del proceso de solicitud, muchas de ellas atendiendo necesidades y oportunidades importantes en las que queremos trabajar en el futuro.
La Junta Asesora del Fondo – Brett Chambers (Universidad Central de Carolina del Norte), Elena Conley (Fundación Mary Reynolds Babcock), Damon Circosta (Fundación AJ Fletcher) Teresa Gorman (Democracy Fund) Bobbi Hapgood (Fundación Prentice), Ivan Kohar Parra (NC Congress of Latino Organizations), Sorien Schmidt (Fundación Z Smith Reynolds) y Josh Stearns (Democracy Fund) – se sintió inspirada e incentivada por el alcance y la creatividad de las propuestas recibidas. Fue increíblemente difícil elegir solo unos pocos cesionarios en esta ronda.
Hay tantas posibilidades, y como todos sabemos, nunca ha habido un momento más importante para fortalecer las noticias y la información a nivel local.
En asociación con la junta asesora, socios financiadores y otros, incluida la consultora sénior de Democracy Fund, Melanie Sill, NCLNL continuará explorando formas de apoyar y fortalecer el ecosistema local de noticias de Carolina del Norte. Esto incluirá futuras convocatorias e invitaciones. No se hará aisladamente. Nos esforzaremos por seguir los valores establecidos de NCLNL de aprendizaje, diversidad, equidad, inclusión, innovación y transparencia, y continuaremos compartiendo actualizaciones de nuestros cesionarios y otros aquí en Local News Lab.
Together, local funders, journalists, citizens begin to reinvent civic-minded news
Denverite reporter Allan Tellis (left) hit coffee shops and local haunts for “Santa Fe Drive” week special coverage. Credit: Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite
by Melissa Davis, VP for Strategic Communications at the Gates Family Foundation.
Editor’s Note: This piece is cross posted from Trust, Media and Democracy, by the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, with permission. Democracy Fund Senior Consultant Jason Alcorn of NewsMatch and the Local News Lab, and consultant Nancy Watzman contributed to the Colorado Media Project’s research, including a presentation by Alcorn at a series of public and working group events.
This summer, prompted by the decade-long decline of Colorado’s newspaper industry — which boiled to the surface in April with a national headline-grabbing editorial page mutiny at The Denver Post — the Colorado Media Project launched a rapid, rigorous exploration of local news in our state.
How did we get here? Colorado has the second-fastest growing economy in the nation, and our population is expected to increase by more than 40 percent by 2040. Yet the depth and breadth of local news has declined dramatically in recent years. About 500 print journalists covered Denver in 2009, before the demise of the Rocky Mountain News and the hollowing of the Denver Post. Today, that number is down to less than 70. Throughout the state, other community papers have faced a similar decline, and many areas have become local news deserts. At the same time, overall trust in media has taken a hit, the traditional role of the Fourth Estate as civic watchdog is evolving, and rapidly-changing technology is dramatically reshaping our public commons and civic dialogue.
So from June to September 2018, a group of concerned citizens — journalists, civic leaders, academics, students, business leaders, and philanthropists — worked with a clear goal in mind: to research and accelerate scalable, sustainable, civic-minded solutions in Colorado’s digital media landscape.
Colorado Media Project design thinking session, held at Denver University in June.
The Colorado Media Project’s key findings dovetail with those emerging from the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy — namely, that there is an urgent need for reinvention and reinvestment in local journalism that serves the civic interest, as a means of restoring trust and connection in our communities. “The virtual collapse of profitable models for the local news business opens a vacuum where bad actors can manipulate systems and disinformation flourishes. One way to foil them: crowd out bad information with good,” wrote Nancy Watzman, sharing four prevailing themes that surfaced at the Commission’s July meeting, held just up the road in Aspen. “We need massive social commitment to develop and sustain quality, community news organizations far into the future.”
In Colorado, we are seeing this reality play out as a vibrant and growing field of digital-native local news startups emerge. The Colorado Sun launched last month by 10 journalists who left The Denver Post after the paper’s latest round of cuts. Denverite, which celebrated its second anniversary last month, is a daily must-read — particularly among the city’s younger residents. The Colorado Independent has become widely recognized as a leading source for statewide coverage of politics and social issues. Hyperlocals like The Longmont Observer and Aspen Journalism, and issue-specific sites like Chalkbeat Colorado, Streetsblog Denver, and Fresh Water News have emerged in recent years to help fill news gaps in Colorado.
These outlets are playing a vital role in our communities, yet the stark reality is that this dynamic ecosystem is extremely fragile. In collaboration with the Institute for Nonprofit News, The Colorado Media Project conducted a benchmark survey of 14 noncommercial news outlets in Colorado to learn more about each one’s mission, coverage topics, audience, staff size, business model, and more. We found the digital startups in particular were significantly underinvested in their business operations — hampering their ability to focus on revenue generation, audience targeting, and community engagement, three areas critical to long-term viability.
The good news is that the Colorado Media Project also found a large and underserved market for digital, local news, for whom “feeling good about contributing to an organization” is the second most important factor in their willingness to pay for local news. We are encouraged that tapping into this civic interest can help noncommercial digital news outlets increase individual memberships, corporate sponsorships, and philanthropic support for local news.
Ultimately, the Colorado Media Project concluded that our local news ecosystem requires more investment from — and engagement with — our local communities in order to survive. Chalkbeat co-founder Elizabeth Green estimates this to be a $1 billion problem nationally, and both community leaders and individual citizens in each city and state have a role to play in contributing to a solution. Meanwhile — and equally important — the local news ecosystem itself must continue its rapid evolution in order to meet our community’s information needs in the digital age — and address its threats.
Colorado Media Project community report-out, September 2018.
Moving forward, the Colorado Media Project is exploring the creation of a Colorado news lab to help local media outlets get better at things they know are critical to their survival — business development, community engagement, technology, collaboration — but on which they may currently devote little time, energy, and focus. And we are starting a dialogue about how to galvanize and increase local philanthropic investment in Colorado news, to ensure the long-term health of our local sources of news and information — which are critical to our ability to participate effectively in a democratic society.
We’re doing this because we believe it is vital that Coloradans have access to reliable, trustworthy news and information about the issues most critical to the future of our state: public education, natural resources, health, economic equity, growth and development, transportation, arts and culture, and more. Local news outlets play a unique role, helping to populate our public squares with daily coverage, in-depth investigations, analysis, and in the best cases, they shed light on solutions. Especially as news platforms and formats continue to evolve, our ability to participate effectively in a democratic society — and to combat the spread of misinformation — is inextricably tied to the health, trustworthiness, and accessibility of our local sources of news and information.
The transformation of Colorado’s media landscape is ongoing, and it presents some exciting opportunities for journalists, entrepreneurs, innovators, and people interested in supporting them in thoughtful and productive ways. We invite you to share your thoughts and follow our progress as we continue this work.
Melissa Milios Davis is Vice President for Strategic Communications at the Gates Family Foundation, a place-based philanthropy advancing long-term quality of life in Colorado since 1946. The Foundation provides underwriting support for the Colorado Media Project, and has supported public and independent media for decades, especially as vital issues such as public education, rural issues, and natural resources have faced decreasing media coverage from commercial outlets.
NewsMatch 2018 launches with new funders, new newsrooms, new chances to support local news and investigative reporting, and more than $3 million in matching dollars for nonprofit news organizations.
Something remarkable starts today. Across the country 155 newsrooms are banding together for a year-end campaign to stand up for journalism that strengthens democracy. Today is the first day of NewsMatch, a national call to action to support trustworthy local news and critical investigative reporting. For the next two months a group of funders will double donations to nonprofit newsrooms across the country. At a moment when news deserts are spreading and journalism is under attack, nonprofit newsrooms are expanding and refuse to back down. They are united in their commitment to serve the public, Now more than ever, they need the public’s support.
From November 1 to December 31 individual donations of $1,000 or less will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $25,000 per newsroom. At NewsMatch.org you can search for participating newsrooms that report on issues you care about or cover your community, and you can donate to them all in one place.
Now in its third year, NewsMatch is a unique partnership between local and national foundations and companies that aims to raise millions of dollars for quality news, build the long term capacity of the nonprofit news sector, and raise awareness of the important role of journalism in our democracy. Local and national funders interested in supporting public interest journalism can still get involved (reach out to me at jstearns@democracyfund.org to discuss how NewsMatch can meet your goals)
Originally created by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2016, NewsMatch has more than doubled in dollars, donors, and participants in three years as it has become a platform for foundations and corporations to pool their funds and expand their impact. “NewsMatch is more than just a campaign. It is a movement that accelerates a new lane of journalism,” writes Karen Rundlet, a Journalism Director at Knight Foundation, “NewsMatch is stronger with multiple sources of financial support.”
New Funders Join NewsMatch to Support Quality News
In 2018 NewsMatch is growing significantly with new funders and newsrooms, representing the increased importance of nonprofit news to keeping our citizens informed, holding our leaders accountable, and covering the issues facing our communities and our nation.
One of the new funders joining NewsMatch in 2018 is the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. Jonathan Logan, a longtime supporter of investigative reporting in the United States, invests in journalism that creates positive change. “NewsMatch is a perfect fit for us,” Logan said, “we look for opportunities where our support will make a significant difference.” The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation’s gift will both support the national campaign and provide an extra match opportunity to specific local newsrooms. “We are able to support dozens of worthy newsrooms by being part of the main NewsMatch fund, and at the same time offer additional support and incentives to more than a dozen newsrooms in the Deep South and post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico, regions of particular importance to us,” Logan said.
Facebook has also significantly increased its support this year, after partnering with NewsMatch in 2017 to raise awareness about the campaign. In August the Facebook Journalism Project announced it was contributing $1 million to the NewsMatch fund. “We are thrilled to do our part to help support these publishers that are providing critical news for communities across the U.S. and helping fill gaps in public information,” said Jason White, Facebook’s director of news partnerships. “This is Facebook’s second year supporting NewsMatch, and over this time, we’ve seen an increase in the importance of nonprofit newsrooms to the local news ecosystem.” Facebook is the first corporation to join the campaign.
In parallel with NewsMatch, at least 20 other foundations and donors have set up local matching efforts with individual newsrooms during the last months of the year. These donors include the University of Texas at El Paso which is providing $65,000 in matching dollars to Borderzine, The Zellerbach Family Foundation and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation which are supporting Fostering Media Connections, the Asta MacDonald Memorial Match supporting WDET Detroit Public Radio, South Dakota philanthropists Dan and Arlene Kirby who are providing $25,000 in matching dollars to South Dakota News Watch, a match from the PRI-PRX Board, a group of major donors in Michigan who will be matching donations to East Lansing Info, and Hugh and Jackie Bikle, the Calhoun & Christiano Family Fund, and the Randy and Rebecca Wolf Family Fund who together are supporting BenitoLink.com with a $25,000 match.
Foundations Expand Their Support with More Dollars for More Newsrooms
In addition to these new supporters a number of foundations returned to support NewsMatch for a second year, and expanded their support in 2018. The Gates Family Foundation, which supported one newsroom in 2017, is offering an additional $1,500 match to eight Colorado newsrooms in 2018 as part of the Colorado Media Project, which aims to strengthen and accelerate sustainable, civic-minded journalism in Colorado. Melissa Milios Davis, vice president for strategic communications at the Gates Family Foundation, sees NewsMatch as a way to encourage Colorado outlets “to come together to brainstorm ways to increase individual donations at each outlet, while also amplifying the vital role that community support plays in sustaining high-quality local news in Colorado.”
The Wyncote Foundation in Pennsylvania is also increasing the number of newsrooms it is supporting through NewsMatch. “Wyncote Foundation is pleased to support the NewsMatch initiative again this year,” David Haas, Wyncote Board Vice Chair said. “NewsMatch allows us to support a range of strategies that strengthen non-partisan, fact-based journalism covering local and regional issues of concern to citizens in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that further civic dialogue and engagement within and across our communities.” Through these partnerships with NewsMatch, these place-based funders are making individual donations to local journalism go even further.
Solving Big Problems Together
All of these partners join Democracy Fund, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Knight Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation who continue to support NewsMatch, which is housed at the Miami Foundation. Collaboration is core to the success of this effort. The campaign is driven by the Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub, both of whom support the 155 participants during NewsMatch and year round. By creating shared trainings, templates and resources, these two organizations have helped to create an unprecedented, coordinated approach to end-of-year fundraising across the nonprofit news sector.
“Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation’s grant to NewsMatch supports the growth of nonprofit news across the country as well as locally in Oklahoma,” said program officer Tyler Tokarczyk. “The collaboration between national and local funders, and the participation of national and local news organizations makes NewsMatch a truly unique giving opportunity we are proud to contribute to again in 2018.” By combining partnerships in the field with partnerships across funders, NewsMatch is able to tackle big challenges none of us could do alone.
NewsMatch launches today and will begin matching individual donations to participating newsrooms, but foundations, companies and donors who want to join the effort are still welcome to contribute. The fund is housed at the Miami Foundation which handles all the administration and logistics for partner funders, making it easy for foundations and donors of any size to join NewsMatch. As the nonprofit news field has grown there is an urgent need to expand NewsMatch even further to support the journalism our nation needs. NewsMatch helped make 2017 a record-breaking year for giving to nonprofit news — this year we have to go even bigger with your support.
NewsMatch, the largest grassroots fundraising campaign for nonprofit news, kicks off this week, but there are many other ways to find matching dollars for your newsroom this fall. Many companies run employee giving programs – including media and technology companies like Disney and AT&T — which can be a great opportunity to rally support for nonprofit journalism. In many cases employers will match donations made through these programs. However, it is not always clear or easy to navigate how to be included.
Below we’ve pulled together some tips for newsrooms who want to tap into local and national giving programs. Here are four things to consider if you want to develop a strategy around encouraging individual donations through employee matching programs at businesses in your area.
Get Registered: Many companies use third party platforms to manage their employee giving programs so you need to be registered and approved by these platforms. Get registered on platforms like Benevity, Causecast, YourCause where thousands of corporations have already set up their gift-matching programs.
Make a Clear Ask: Have a specific ask for local companies and employees. If they have a gift matching policy, ask them if there are opportunities to share the impact of your journalism with employees, or find creative ways to get your organization in front their staff. Make it easy for people by ensuring potential donors can find your address, Tax-ID number, legal organizational name and other basic information about your newsroom they will need. Make sure your donation page provides contact info for someone on your team who can help potential donors.
Build it In: You may not know who has an employee giving program so be sure to remind your individual donors to ask about potential gift matching policies at their jobs.
Read Up: Here are a few more articles on helping you take advantage of employee matching programs:
Gabe Schneider is Democracy Fund’s Fall 2018 Intern. Schneider is a journalist with a love for hyper-local and non-profit newsrooms. As an undergraduate at UC San Diego, he co-founded The Triton, a digital-first, independent, student-run news source. He served as Editor-in-Chief from 2015-17 and News Editor from 2017-18, focusing on gathering public records and establishing a paper of record for underserved communities on campus. His work has been published in The Columbia Journalism Review, Rewire.News, and Los Angeles Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @gabemschneider.
How the Colorado Media Project will work to strengthen local news
Sanford “Whitey” Watzman at his desk at The Cleveland Plain Dealer, sometime in the 1950s.
This post first appeared on Trust, Media and Democracy on Medium
by Nancy Watzman, acting director, Colorado Media Project
At one dinner toward the end of my Dad’s life, he turned to me and said, “I’m glad I’ll die before the last newspaper does.” He was a reporter after all — he thought the word “journalist” was too fancy — and he could see where this story was going.
His beloved Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he spent some 20 years working himself up from the police beat to national political correspondent, was a hazy reflection of what it once was. In his adopted home in Colorado, he had seen The Rocky Mountain News close its doors and was witnessing The Denver Post hemorrhaging reporters.
To my Dad the importance of the press was not some academic matter. The son of Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine, he knew what happens to powerless people living in an autocracy without basic freedoms and rights. To him, working as a reporter meant being a good democrat with a small “d,” representing the people in holding government and private institutions accountable.
My Dad did not believe in any kind of afterlife, other than living on through his children and their children. So I know that he’d feel I am continuing his work in my new role as acting director of the Colorado Media Project. Last week, we announced the project, launched in 2018, would continue investment in strengthening trustworthy local news throughout the state, with a three-year commitment from the Gates Family Foundation, support from Democracy Fund, and in partnership with Denver University’s Project X-ITE.
The mission of the Colorado Media Project will be continuing to work with local news organizations on innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, as well as advocating the importance of local news in our communities and for democracy. This mission dovetails with recommendations recently made by the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy — for which I’ve worked as outreach editor. Commissioners spent a year collecting research, listening to experts, and deliberating on what we can do collectively to improve trust in the media.
But, my Dad was also a reporter, so he would have given me the third degree on what that all actually means. What will the Colorado Media Project actually do? Will it actually make a difference? What is there to be done anyway?
We’re planning to encourage collaboration between the state’s higher education institutions and journalists, connect local news organizations with resources to develop capacity financially, provide opportunities for training and talent development, and more. But also important will be the way we’ll strive to do the work.
We’ll listen.In our work to date, we conducted research, interviews with journalists, and emplooyed other means to learn about Coloradans’ needs for news and the challenges journalists face in meeting them. We’ll continue to learn and listen, and develop our program accordingly.
We’ll fight for resources for local journalists.Our goal is to increase funding, resources, and capacity for local news organizations. The Gates Family Foundation will continue to support local news organizations directly and urges other philanthropists to do the same. The Colorado Media Project will not compete with them for funding, and it will be be a lean operation, leveraging contractors, existing resources, and partnerships with local and state programs to do our work.
We’ll share what we learn.We’ll stand on the shoulders of local journalism projects in other parts of the country that have begun this work, such as the Center for Cooperative Media in New Jersey, the North Carolina Local News Lab, The Lenfest Institute, and more, building on what they’ve learned. We will try some new things and undoubtedly make some mistakes. Along the way we’ll share what we learn so all may benefit.
We’ll promote local journalism relentlessly.We won’t shut up about the importance of local journalism in our state’s democracy. We’ll shout it from the rooftops and mountain tops.
“That all sounds fine,” my Dad would have said. But I can also imagine him quoting me one of his favorite adages on good writing: “Show, don’t tell.”The Colorado Media Project will be rolling out our program specifics for this next phase of its work in coming weeks. The proof is in the work, and he’d accept no less. Stay tuned.
We admit: the term “news ecosystem” may have a certain hypnotic effect, lighting up circuits in the typical human brain to file under “jargon.” However, at the Democracy Fund, systems thinking fuels our decision making, and we believe the concept of a news ecosystem can be helpful for funders, news organizations, and supportive organizations in evaluating how to deploy resources effectively. In 2015, the Democracy Fund worked with partners to develop this systems map of the overall media ecosystem to help guide us in our planning.
You didn’t answer the question. What’s a news ecosystem already?
The key concept in ecosystems is that everything is in relationship to everything else. Like the crushed butterfly changing the future in the classic Ray Bradbury science fiction story, sometimes small differences can create big change, whether purposeful or accidental. In cities and regional areas across the country, thanks to many factors, news deserts and drylands have surfaced, with many legacy newspapers downsizing or going out of business. At the same time, innovative digital news startups are sending up green shoots. Each place is a unique landscape–a news ecosystem!–of different types of media, library and university resources, philanthropic organizations, and more.
So what is your funding philosophy on news ecosystems?
The Democracy Fund believes systemic problems require systemic solutions. The traditional model of journalism, in which several papers with coffers heavy from advertising dollars compete against each other to get the scoop, is no longer workable in most places. Rather than picking one news organization to fund, the Democracy Fund evaluates the big picture and whether there’s possible infrastructure to take on the task of supporting an entire news ecosystem. That brings us to the idea of hub organizations and ecosystem builders.
What’s a hub organization?
Across the nation, hub organizations are emerging to support and strengthen local journalism. They are creating new kinds of connections between newsrooms, helping enable powerful journalism collaborations, testing alternative revenue models, and sparking new networks which together make local news more resilient and effective. Hub organizations focus on how to support the many players in their local news region, and connect them in ways that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts
What is an ecosystem builder?
Often the people that work at hub organizations are what we call ecosystem builders, but they can also be people at any type of organization in a region. They are relationship builders, often challenging local newsrooms and journalists to find common cause in strengthening local news and serving local communities. They keep on eye on how different elements fit together, what is flourishing, what could use some cultivation, what is missing. They move between communities and connect people in new ways. They’re the emerging, and current, leaders thinking about how local news can be different in the future.
Where has the Democracy Fund invested in news ecosystems so far?
Democracy Fund has invested in efforts in many regions at different levels and in many ways, including in New Jersey, North Carolina, Colorado, Chicago, and New Mexico. We have also provided advice, guidance and lessons learned to other funders and people interested in building healthier local news ecosystems. As a national funder we recognize that we are guests in these communities and have made grants in ways to ensure that funding decisions are rooted in local knowledge and experience.
Is there more information about each ecosystem investment?
We strive to be as transparent as possible about how to get involved in each region’s work and why and how we made decisions to invest in certain projects. While we bring our experience and research into regions, every community is different and led by local leaders to respond to local contexts so none of these efforts are identical.
The three Local News Lab funds, housed at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the North Carolina Community Foundation, and the Santa Fe Community Foundation, are managed by advisory groups made up of local stakeholders and Democracy Fund staff. In Chicago and Colorado, the new funding efforts are informed and led by local leaders.
New Jersey: this infusion of investment follows successful experiments begun by the Knight Foundation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The funding is helping to continue that momentum and broaden the work there beyond newsrooms to other civic information networks and institutions. Read more about the experience and lessons learned in New Jersey here.
North Carolina: Democracy Fund invested after commissioning local journalist and researcher Fiona Morgan to undertake a year-long research project on the strengths and challenges of local news and information in North Carolina. In August 2018, the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund announced $500,000 in grants to local organizations that help make up the news ecosystem locally, from a new investigative journalism collaborative to a project drawing together historically black colleges with public media, and more.
New Mexico: This work was informed by research started by Michael Marcotte supported by Democracy Fund in 2016. Thornburg Foundation expanded and deepened that research by supporting focus groups and further research led by New Mexico First. The New Mexico Local News Lab Fund is still in development.
Chicago: Similarly, Democracy Fund supported a landscape analysis of Chicago’s news ecosystem by Sheila Solomon and Andrea Hart in 2016. Through that research and learning from local foundation leaders, it became clear that supporting the city’s communities of color should be a priority of ecosystem investments. Since then, Democracy Fund invested in the Chicago startups City Bureau and the Obsidian Collection. We also supported the Media and Storytelling Program at the Field Foundation, which was started by a $3 million investment by MacArthur Foundation. That program will launch funding in 2019.
Colorado: The Colorado Media Project began in 2018 as a short-term effort by the Gates Family Foundation to explore what was happening in Colorado’s news ecosystem and how to support it. After hundreds of conversations, focus groups, events, and more, Gates Family Foundation made a $1.125 million investment to establish the Colorado Media Project as an organization that would build long-term support and connective tissue to the state.
What’s next?
The Democracy Fund is continuing to explore news ecosystems and learn how best to support local voices and needs. There are several questions we are grappling with this year as this work expands, including:
How do we responsibly bring in national resources to local ecosystems, including from our national grantees such as OpenSource, INN, LION, NewsMatch, the Center for Cooperative Media, and the New School?
How do we best support ecosystem builders?
How do we share lessons more broadly while also continuing to make each ecosystem stronger?
How can we connect these efforts, including ecosystem building supported by other foundations such as Knight Foundation, Lenfest Institute, Heinz Foundation and others in places like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.
Going forward, we’ll be evaluating the programs we’re funding, exploring these and more questions, and updating our mapping as situations change. We believe that the future of local news will be collaborative and system-wide, and we’ll be continuing to explore ways we can make a difference.
Want to keep up with the Democracy Fund’s work in local news ecosystems?
Subscribe to The Local Fix: http/tinyletter.com/localfix , the weekly newsletter written by Josh Stearns and Teresa Gorman. Each week the Local Fix takes a look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news.
Subscribe to NC Local: a weekly newsletter by Melanie Sill about the North Carolina local news ecosystem.
Let the Lab guide you: our detailed guidesoffer advice on how to help newsrooms develop new revenue models.
Learn from the Lab: don’t miss this report on lessons learned in the first 18 months of experiments undertaken by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
Nancy Watzman works on strategic initiatives with Dot Connector Studio. She recently joined Colorado Media Project as acting director. Joyce Rice is an artist and graphic designer who works with Dot Connector Studio.
Photo of Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station by astronaut Alexander Gerst, creative commons/flickr.com
In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, communities across Eastern North Carolina are beginning to heal and rebuild. Having trustworthy, accurate and timely news and information is vital for North Carolina’s communities as they recover, but, as Melanie Sill wrote in an op-ed in the News & Observer, there aren’t emergency agencies to help the news outlets and to keep information flowing. It is a crucial time for communities that still need important information about recovery when the major networks have packed up and left.
To help organizations in these efforts, the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund has opened a call for proposals for information and engagement projects that address critical information needs. Applications are due April 15.
In your town, do neighbors always know when the planning commission is making decisions about projects nearby? Chicago-based City Bureau is helping citizens attend public meetings, report on them, and share this information with neighbors.
Sierra Council, former City Bureau Fellow, poses a question at a May 2017 Public Newsroom on how Chicago’s South Side is represented in the media. (Image courtesy of City Bureau)
Do you often see voices missing from the public square? Los Angeles-based public radio station KPCC has developed Unheard LA, a program to help local citizens tell and share their stories with each other and the station’s broadcast and digital audiences.
Russ Fega presenting at Unheard LA, 2018. (Image by Louis Felix/KPCC)
The new Wyncote report brings to life the growing conversation among place-based foundations about ways local media can animate and advance local funders’ diverse program priorities and grantmaking agendas. It follows the 2018 Wyncote report profiling nine local grantmakers’ media funding strategies. By providing information about groundbreaking work across the United States, these reports broaden the pool of examples that can inform grantmaking strategy and inspire deeper investment in media.
Innovations in Local Journalism, Public Media and Storytelling
This table of contents will be updated as each profile is published between July and October, 2019.
City Bureau, a civic journalism lab in Chicago modeling a more democratic way of making media.
Mizna (St. Paul, MN) – July 30
NJ Spotlight (Trenton, NJ) – August 13
Capital Public Radio (San Francisco, CA) – August 27
Resolve Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) – September 10
Reel South (Durham, NC & Columbia, SC) – September 24
New Orleans Film Society (New Orleans, Louisiana) – October 8
Southern California Public Radio (Pasadena, CA) – October 22
Key Themes
The impetus for the 2019 report comes from Wyncote’s first-hand experiences in media funding, and a desire to share common themes emerging from funded organizations:
Deeper community engagement: Local media organizations like City Bureau (Chicago) are exploring new forms of community engagement that bring the public into the journalism process and give citizens a greater role in deciding what stories are told and how.
Bolder community empowerment: People and communities traditionally left out of mainstream news coverage are finding new ways to amplify stories from their neighborhoods and cultures. Organizations like Mizna (St. Paul) and NOISE (Omaha) identify and share stories as reflected in their communities’ lived experiences.
Grantmakers across the U.S. are investing in new ways to connect citizens through media (The Wyncote Foundation)
Innovation in collaboration: News organizations like Resolve Philadelphia are finding new and creative ways to work with one another to increase and strengthen local coverage, amplifying community voices and exploring local solutions to community challenges.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion: The most consistent theme from the report is the way organizations are working to ensure that the full diversity of local community voices is both heard and served. Examples from multiple organizations show how local media is building reciprocal relationships across neighborhoods and geographies and working to bridge barriers of race, gender, age, and language.
The full report profiles the inspiring and creative work happening in local communities across our nation. The organizations and projects highlighted — and the funders who are furthering this work — give us hope for the future and offer grantmakers new approaches to making a difference “in place.”
Learn more about Wyncote’s longstanding efforts to build dialogue and strengthen practice among place-based foundations funding local media at https://www.wyncotefoundation.org/. To share your own examples, reach out to info@wyncotefoundation.org.
About Wyncote Foundation
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
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About the Local News Lab
Here on the Local News Lab, we regularly highlight collaborations between journalists, newsrooms, and communities that help build healthy news and information ecosystems. Click here to subscribe to the Local Fix, a weekly roundup of the best writing on journalism, paired with concrete advice, tools and resources for people who care about local news.
North Omaha Information Support for Everyone (NOISE) is a hyperlocal news initiative formed by and for Omaha’s predominantly black northside neighborhood. NOISE grew out of an information ecosystem assessment led by the Listening Post Collective through which leaders in north Omaha described and documented gaps and bias in mainstream media coverage of their community.
“Information is most powerful in the hands of the masses”
NOISE Founder Dawaune Hayes
The Listening Post Collective is a project of Internews, an international nonprofit that works in community development through media. Internews strives to ensure that people have access to quality information that empowers them to have a voice in their communities’ futures. The Listening Post described its work in north Omaha as aiming “to support a richer and more useful flow of information and conversation through the community, so that residents can get the news they need and have their voices heard.”
— Listening Post Collective (@LPostCollective) June 19, 2017
The Listening Post’s interviews and final report spurred north Omaha residents to be proactive in advancing the exchange of news, information, and storytelling inside and outside of their part of the city. Led by Dawaune Lamont Hayes, a north Omaha native with a journalism background, NOISE began in 2018 to engage people and partners to build needed media connections and increase the quality of news and information available for neighborhood residents.
NOISE Director Dawaune Hayes discusses the history of racism in Omaha and the importance of reclaiming local narratives at TEDxCreightonU 2018 (TEDxTalks)
Community members with the NOISE team during Power Hour, a weekly space to gather, converse, and contribute to the information landscape (Image courtesy of NOISE Omaha)
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At a Glance
Organization Type: NOISE is housed within the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization
Operating Budget: less than $50,000 in its start-up year
Key Funders: Sherwood Foundation, Weitz Family Foundation
Contact: Dawaune Hayes, Founder and Director, noiseomaha(at)gmail.com
As a largely volunteer project, NOISE is actively seeking funding from area foundations, businesses, and individuals. A recent grant from the Sherwood Foundation is providing welcome start-up capital.
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
About the Local News Lab
Here on the Local News Lab, we regularly highlight collaborations between journalists, newsrooms, and communities that help build healthy news and information ecosystems.Click here to subscribe to the Local Fix, a weekly roundup of the best writing on journalism, paired with concrete advice, tools and resources for people who care about local news.
How can citizens get directly involved in reporting on their communities?
Sierra Council, former City Bureau Fellow, poses a question at a May 2017 Public Newsroom on how Chicago’s South Side is represented in the media. (Image courtesy of City Bureau)
City Bureau was formed in 2015 as a working civic journalism lab in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. City Bureau operates three main programs that “model a more democratic way of making media.” City Bureau’s vision is “a future in which all people are equipped with the tools and knowledge to effect change in their communities.”
“People are not powerless players; they can actively bring their assets to strengthen their communities and our shared work as journalists covering them.”
Darryl Holliday, City Bureau co-founder
Public Newsroom
The City Bureau Public Newsroom is a free, open weekly gathering, where the public is invited to exchange ideas and information with working journalists. Citizens have the opportunity to inform stories and share community resources, and journalists are able to interact directly with readers to identify and shape stories. As part of Public Newsroom programming, free workshops equip citizen-participants to navigate journalism processes like accessing government data, initiating Freedom of Information Act requests, and using audio and video, thereby helping to open up and share journalists’ tools.
"We believe community engagement is a pillar of journalism—it’s not a tool, single job, one-off project or a way to save traditional news.“ Introducing our Community Engagement Guidelines! Read @lenifaye on how and why we generated them: https://t.co/kvxedBGZZA (cc: #EELive19) pic.twitter.com/USLa2ujEcJ
Co-founder Darryl Holliday says that many aspects of City Bureau’s work are replicable in other communities. However, helping journalists move from deficit-based reporting on communities to an asset-based approach to co-creating news with communities is slower going in terms of replication. “A lot of journalists could stand to learn from organizing tenets,” he says. “People are not powerless players; they can actively bring their assets to strengthen their communities and our shared work as journalists covering them.”
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
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About Local News Lab
Here on the Local News Lab, we regularly highlight collaborations between journalists, newsrooms, and communities that help build healthy news and information ecosystems.Click here to subscribe to the Local Fix, a weekly roundup of the best writing on journalism, paired with concrete advice, tools and resources for people who care about local news.
What happens when storytelling and art are used to give voice to communities and perspectives absent from mainstream media?
Discussion with Leilah Abdennabi, Palestinian activist, and Ahlam Muhtaseb, co-director/executive producer, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe, at Mizna’s 2018 Arab Film Festival. (Image by Makeen Osman)
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mizna is a nonprofit cultural organization that celebrates Arab-American culture and its multifaceted contemporary voices and representations. Now in its 20th year, Mizna’s work encompasses literature, art, film, and dialogue, serving audiences and artists that span the local to the global and articulate many identities in between.
What does it mean to be ‘making Arab art?’ You’re an Arab person making art, that’s it.”
Lana Barkawi, executive director of Mizna
On Their Own Terms
Mizna began publishing its biannual journal, Mizna, in 1999 and launched its first Arab Film Festival soon afterward. These flagship media projects provide platforms for Arab and Arab-American artists to represent themselves on their own terms, embracing their diverse experiences, identities, and perspectives.
Mizna will present the 14th Twin Cities #ArabFilmFest September 26 to September 29, 2019 at St. Anthony Main Theater. Passes and ticket packs for Mizna’s 2019 Arab Film Fest are now available for preorder! Head to https://t.co/y9Zky6lMzL for more info + to pre-order tickets pic.twitter.com/FbK08BKhbh
Mizna serves Arab-American artists by providing avenues for expression, enables Arab-American audiences to see themselves represented with depth and humanity, and offers broader audiences the opportunity to engage with Arab and Arab-American cultures outside of common stereotypes and orientalist conventions.
While Mizna’s work has national and international reach, the organization has also developed substantive local programming. Through Mizna Pages, writers lead discussions in high school classrooms based on readings from Mizna. Lively film programming includes filmmaker Q&As, local filmmaker series, gatherings, and tours that bring films to local neighborhoods.
Have you heard about this incredible workshop opportunity? SWANA writers apply before June 12! https://t.co/sWp4IaUtf6
In 2019, Mizna’s distinct programs will intersect with History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary. This retrospective exhibition, created in collaboration with the Minnesota Museum of American Art, will feature artists whose work has appeared in Mizna, with the journal’s winter issue serving as an exhibition catalog.
Mizna and @mnmuseum announce History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary opening Sept 12, 2019. The exhibition presents the work of artists who engage the "Arab imaginary" as a strategy for examining various social, cultural, and political positions. https://t.co/LfU4phOQumpic.twitter.com/MbtRgiLvhv
Noting that a community’s self-representation is often burdened with funder expectations of “the be all, end all,” Lana Barkawi, executive director, underscores, “If Arab-Americans are already seen as a monolith by the broader culture, Mizna shouldn’t be in the business of recreating that problem.” The organization therefore strives to create a balance of the many voices that are encompassed by the limited term “Arab.” Explaining that, “You can’t exist with the identity of being Arab or Muslim without it being political,” Barkawi emphasizes, “We don’t want to box people into, ‘What does it mean to be making Arab art?’ You’re an Arab person making art, that’s it.”
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
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About Local News Lab
Here on the Local News Lab, we regularly highlight collaborations between journalists, newsrooms, and communities that help build healthy news and information ecosystems.Click here to subscribe to the Local Fix, a weekly roundup of the best writing on journalism, paired with concrete advice, tools and resources for people who care about local news.
In 2010, New Jersey journalists John Mooney, Lee Keough, and Tom Johnson launched NJ Spotlight, a news website focused on statewide policy and legislative coverage.
Left: Founding Editor John Mooney discusses urban policy with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka. (Image by Amanda Brown). Right: NJ Spotlight roundtable. (Image courtesy of NJ Spotlight)
Just two years prior, amidst nationwide downturns in newspaper revenue, Newark’s The Star-Ledger eliminated a quarter of its news staff. Stepping up to fill the resulting coverage gaps, the founding journalists behind NJ Spotlight built on their decades of experience covering New Jersey beats like education and energy, and on their knowledge of the state’s policy history and its citizens’ information needs.
Above: an NJ Spotlight interactive map illustrating the cost of education in New Jersey, showing parents, administrators and the public per-pupil spending in each school district
Building on Experience
Seasoned reporters with established reputations and extensive networks were central to NJ Spotlight’s vigorous initial launch. In the glutted media market, Mooney notes, “You don’t have much of a runway to do this.” Carving out a niche of in-depth analysis and contextualization that is distinct from other daily publications, NJ Spotlight met receptive audiences early on.
Content experts and advocates frequently cite NJ Spotlight as a source for reliable, in-depth news on specific issues, like mental health.
The website has since become an important source for policymakers, businesses, advocates, community leaders, academics, activists, and New Jerseyans seeking relevant local reporting. NJ Spotlight has gained accolades and attention, even while challenged to move from start-up mode to sustainability.
Partnerships and Diversification
A core sustainability strategy is building partnerships with other media outlets in the state and beyond, an approach that recently led to NJ Spotlight’s acquisition by WNET (Greater New York City’s PBS affiliate) in early 2019. NJ Spotlight will remain a separate entity, while collaborating to serve audiences across platforms, including broadcast video and other media.
A scandal has taken over the Economic Development Authority, the state agency responsible for doling out tax breaks in order to grow or retain New Jersey jobs. @NJSpotlight reporter @johnreitmeyer breaks it down. pic.twitter.com/mFegGMkdCu
Describing these media crossovers and NJ Spotlight’s existing live events and podcasts, Mooney compares content platforms to revenue streams. “You’ve got to diversify. Different people get things differently. Podcasts work for some, video works for some…and then you have people who will read 1,000 words. We create on all platforms because we realize we’ve got to. You can’t be a one-trick pony.”
NJ Spotlight’s deep coverage of New Jersey makes the organization attractive to funding partners seeking comprehensive analysis of topics such as healthcare, the environment, and education. As Mooney emphasizes, “We’re covering the issues they care about.”
At a Glance
Organization Type: News website
Operating Budget: Approximately $1 million in 2018
Key Funders: Community Foundation of New Jersey, The Fund for New Jersey, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, William Penn Foundation, Wyncote Foundation
Contact: John Mooney, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Editor, jmooney (at) njspotlight.com
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
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About Local News Lab
Here on the Local News Lab, we regularly highlight collaborations between journalists, newsrooms, and communities that help build healthy news and information ecosystems.Click here to subscribe to the Local Fix, a weekly roundup of the best writing on journalism, paired with concrete advice, tools and resources for people who care about local news.
What happens when a region’s newsrooms collaborate to report on promising approaches to addressing a community’s most pressing problems?
Media partners strategic planning session for the Reentry Project. (Images by Jim MacMillan)
Resolve Philadelphia is among the largest solutions journalism collaboratives in the U.S. It leads reporting among 23 commercial and nonprofit news organizations including partners from the city’s largest general interest news operations; community, ethnic, and neighborhood media outlets; and digital journalism start-ups.
“Behavior is communication, and if your child is acting out, they’re trying to say something."
5 school counselors talk about the nitty-gritty of daily life in schools, from social media to how we can identify warning signs (2/): https://t.co/dbryy1ZgBm
Solutions journalism aims to inspire changes in policy and practice and to shift dominant narratives from problem identification toward hopeful solutions. Advocates for a solutions approach believe that news stories can leave audiences ready to engage and participate instead of feeling frustrated and powerless.
Solutions-focused collaboration
Resolve Philadelphia launched in 2016 when 15 newsrooms collaborated to report on prisoner reentry, a critical challenge in the city. The Reentry Project resulted in 200-plus stories that brought the subject to the forefront of civic discourse and won the American Press Media Editors’ annual award for community engagement.
We are overcoming some of the very legitimate and inherent obstacles to work on collaboration among newsrooms.
Resolve Philadelphia Co-Founder Jean Friedman-Rudovsky
Broke in Philly, the group’s next project, focuses on the city’s persistent rates of poverty. As a result of concerted outreach efforts, Broke in Philly is involving more newsrooms, which collaborate on reporting, events, and a central website. Shared web content incorporates features such as a map of resources for housing, food, healthcare, and other services; a guide to encourage charitable giving to nonprofits working on economic mobility; news and resources in Spanish; and a phone number for texting ideas to lead editors. Partners’ newsroom personnel meet in person every four to six weeks to share story ideas and discuss next steps.
Putting Art to Work: Mural Arts paid 430 homeless Philadelphians $22,000 to paint a mural in Suburban Station and access social services. | From: @thephilacitizenhttps://t.co/ZKrpZgPhex
Asked about the downstream effects of this work, co-founder Jean Friedman-Rudovsky says, “We are overcoming some of the very legitimate and inherent obstacles to work on collaboration among newsrooms, and we’re elevating topics and potential solutions in our community. Together we can move a problem from intractable to unacceptable.”
Grants from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the Wyncote Foundation, and the Knight Foundation advanced the collaborative’s early work and helped encourage partners to be involved. You can also read an impact report on The Rentry Project here.
The Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program is a place-based philanthropy in Philadelphia that works to further a thriving public media ecosystem that is vital to animating and sustaining democracy’s public sphere.
About the Author
Sarah Lutman is founder of 8 Bridges Workshop, a St. Paul-based consulting and program development firm, and serves as senior advisor to Wyncote Foundation’s Public Media and Journalism Program.
How do people in your community get news and information about what’s happening where they live? You might answer newspapers, TV, radio … but how about social media? Libraries? The community center bulletin board? The church bulletin? The neighborhood listserv? The neighborhood bar?
Our news and information ecosystems are complex and evolving as media and technology change while at the same time local newspapers consolidate and disappear. They are important to learn about if you want to make a positive impact on your community. Whether your goal is raising awareness about clean water, improving community safety, increasing civic participation or any number of other goals, you won’t get far if your community lacks quality information and equitable ways to communicate and engage.
This week, we’re excited to share that we’re launching a new tool that can help you map your media ecosystem to help find and support this information and engagement.
Across the country, foundations and philanthropists are coming to realize that local news and civic information is a critical element of a healthy community and democracy, and that they have a role to play in its future.
We’ve heard many funders, philanthropists, and community foundations who are familiar with the problems say that it can be challenging to figure out the solutions — how can they get started supporting the future of news and information in their communities?
We’ve learned a lot through the assessments and funding choices we’ve undertaken in North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Colorado, Chicago, and beyond. Landscape analyses we commissioned in 2016 helped us decide where best to put our dollars, and have resulted in the establishment of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, the New Mexico Local News Fund, and the New Jersey Local News Lab Fund, as well as the support of the Colorado Media Project, the Field Foundation’s Media & Storytelling Program, the Center for Cooperative Media, and more.
Each of these places and organizations are working in unique and powerful ways to rebuild local news in their region.
Participants in a Colorado Media Project design group brainstorm what the local news ecosystem needs in the state. Credit: Gil Askawa.
The toolkit brings together some of this work we’ve done, along with the work of others we’ve learned from who are funding innovative and collaborative news efforts. We share case studies from funders we’ve learned from in Colorado, New Jersey, Detroit, and the Mountain West, and will share more in the months to come.
This step-by-step guide will help you gather the information you need to take informed, effective action to improve your local news and information ecosystem, just like these funders have.
Undertaking this type of assessment is important because at Democracy Fund we know there isn’t one solution to figuring out the future of local news, but many solutions together.
Funding with an ecosystem lens acknowledges that local news and information is interconnected and ever-changing. We don’t learn about our communities from any one source but from multiple sources and networks of trust. We learn valuable information from neighbors and listservs and community meetings as well as newspaper stories and radio programs. The makeup of those sources and networks depends on where we live.
Credit: Detroit Public Television
When we keep people at the center of our thinking — not news organizations per se, not the journalism industry — we begin to see ways we can strengthen what already exists and determine which gaps need to be filled. Rather than grounding solutions in any one organization, Democracy Fund chooses to evaluate the big picture and find whether there’s possible infrastructure and supports to fund that can take on the task of supporting an entire news and information ecosystem.
Get Started Using the Guide
This guide can help you take a look at that big picture and chart a path forward. It starts with understanding what makes up a healthy news ecosystem, then walks through the ways you can get to know your community, including research and engagement methods you can tailor to your goals. Our “deep dive” section includes a trove of free and low-cost data sources as well as some simple scavenger hunt-style assignments to help you see what those sources have to offer. We talk through ways your organization can act on what you learn so that your assessment will inform collaboration and ongoing engagement. And since we know budgets and bandwidth vary, we offer ideas for ways to right-size your assessment to the resources you have.
A scene from New Jersey based CivicStory’s Board of Directors meeting (with a special guest, 12-week-old Ila).Credit: CivicStory.
We’ve also included four case studies to flesh out our how-to guidance with concrete examples. These case studies show that each community is different, so what works in one place may not always work in another. This guide will help you find what the people in your own community need and how to make the greatest impact with the resources you have.
“Putting the people first was the most important element to our work. We didn’t do this because we thought we could save newspapers or newsrooms. We found it important that people in small towns have access to information to help them become more engaged citizens, so they’re able to make more informed decisions and they’re connected with the national conversation, the regional conversation, and the local conversation.”
– LaMonte Guillory of the LOR Foundation, on their work in the Rural Mountain West.
While this guide is primarily designed for philanthropic organizations, anyone interested in improving local news and information is invited to adapt it to suit their own research.
The story we often hear about local news is dire, but it doesn’t have to be. We can face the realities of what we’re losing and the impact on our democracy while also seeing the assets and opportunities that exist. By being thoughtful, informed, inclusive and by sharing what we learn, we can make local news more resilient and sustainable.
Hear more from two of our featured interviewees Molly de Aguiar of the Independence Public Media Foundation and LaMonte Guillory of the LOR Foundation in a webinar on November 22 at 1 pm ET.
This theory is at the core of the work of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, which is announcing $500,000 in grants today. NCLNL’s goal is to support people and organizations working to build a healthier local news and information ecosystem in North Carolina. It is a collaborative fund at the North Carolina Community Foundation, established by a group of local and national funders who believe in the power of local journalism, local stories, and local people to strengthen our democracy. 
Gabe Schneider is Democracy Fund’s Fall 2018 Intern. Schneider is a journalist with a love for hyper-local and non-profit newsrooms. 
Introducing our Community Engagement Guidelines! Read 
