Philanthropy supporting journalism
The importance of philanthropic donors for quality journalism is stressed by the CEO of Associated Press – one of the big international news agencies. Her blog post comes at a time when media struggles with financing as advertising revenue is falling while difficult economic times make it difficult to persuade users to pay subscription fees.
“Grants can give newsrooms the runway they need to deepen their coverage, experiment with new approaches, help make important shifts toward greater diversity, and confront relentless threats from misinformation”, AP President and CEO, Daisy Veerashingham, writes in a blog post for Center for Effective Philanthropy.
She says that in the past year alone, journalists from The Associated Press have explored the impact of climate change on the Jordan River and other sacred rivers in Africa, Asia, and South America; revealed hundreds of thousands of students have disappeared from US public school rolls since the pandemic began; and personalized a redistricting case before the Supreme Court by introducing readers to the people it impacted.
“These are just a few examples of work that would not have been possible without the support of philanthropic donors who believe in the importance of independent, fact-based, nonpartisan journalism to a healthy democracy.”.
“Philanthropic investments make a significant difference in the ability of news organizations to cover issues that impact people’s daily lives and deliver information essential for civil societies.”
She informs that the 177 year old news agency is actively working with 21 foundations on almost 30 journalism projects.
“We’ve created a dedicated climate reporting team, adding 20 journalists across Africa, Asia, and North and South America to tell one of the most important stories of our time. In the US, we have launched a democracy team to help an increasingly polarized public better understand how their government works.”
“We have also built an “Education Reporting Network” and shared practical and contextual information — as well as datasets — with local newsrooms to help them customize stories for their audiences.”
“The impact of such investments cannot be overstated, especially at a time when the news media industry as a whole is under continued pressure.”
“Philanthropy can help in all of these cases by injecting resources to both insulate coverage from cutbacks and accelerate important reporting projects.”
“We see the desire of philanthropic organizations to support our efforts as validating our mission of providing factual, unbiased journalism, and it’s clear that other news organizations agree. Last year, more than half the revenue at news outlets belonging to the Institute for Nonprofit News came from foundation support. This is a trend we expect to carry on”, she writes.
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