Media Impact Forum 2026: Suggested Pre-reading

In advance of this year’s Media Impact Forum, our staff has compiled a list of reports, articles and recorded programs to help prepare attendees for the event. These are some of the articles and tools that our programming team had in mind when putting together the conference, and also cover earlier conversations that we will build on at the Forum. We will be adding to this list in the lead-up to May 28. Not attending the Forum? The materials here speak to the dominant themes and ideas that will be presented on stage, but will also be key parts of the conversations and events funders can expect from MIF in the coming months. If you have any questions about the links included here, would like more information or have an item you think we should add to the list, please reach out to shannon@mediafunders.org. Media Infrastructure & Sustainability Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs. Published earlier this year by MIF, this report provides an analysis of the structural constraints shaping the future of local journalism Meeting the Revenue Challenge – Philanthropy’s Role in Local News. Published by the Wyncote Foundation, this… Read More

MIF has received a three-year, $300,000 general operating grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant supports MIF’s shift toward more coordinated approaches in a rapidly shifting media landscape, with public media, journalism, documentary and narrative ecosystems increasingly overlapping. MacArthur’s investment will help advance MIF’s priorities to strengthen funder alignment, advance shared learning and support more strategic, collaborative investments in media infrastructure and impact. That means creating space for funders to move not just faster, but smarter, by linking resources, insights and strategies in ways that reflect the complexity of today’s information environment. At a time when the challenges facing public-interest media are both urgent and interconnected, this funding helps position MIF and its network to meet the moment with greater context, coordination and collaboration. We are grateful to the MacArthur Foundation for their partnership and support. Learn more about MIF’s approach.

Editor’s note: At Media Impact Funders, we’re seeing a growing conversation about how philanthropy can strengthen the systems that support public-interest media. At the same time, important questions are emerging about how those systems are experienced on the ground. In this piece, Tracie Powell, founder of the Pivot Fund, offers a perspective rooted in direct work with newsrooms, highlighting the relationship between infrastructure and capacity. Her insights contribute to a broader dialogue across the field about how to align funding strategies with the realities of the organizations they aim to support. Over the past several years, philanthropy has increasingly rallied around the idea that local journalism needs infrastructure—shared services, training programs, accelerators, and technical assistance. This is a critical shift, and long overdue. A new report, Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: What nearly 560 applications reveal about scale, sustainability and system-level investments by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, has helped galvanize this momentum. Drawing on nearly 560 proposals submitted to Press Forward’s infrastructure funding process, the report finds that many of the most persistent challenges facing local journalism are not isolated newsroom problems, but system-level constraints tied to fragmented infrastructure and limited shared capacity. It also makes a compelling… Read More

Media Impact Funders is pleased to announce that Nina Sachdev has been named Deputy Director of External Affairs. Nina has been an integral part of MIF’s leadership for the past decade. She joined the organization when it had just two full-time staff members and, as MIF’s first full-time communications director, helped build the organization’s voice, public presence, and member engagement strategy from the ground up. Over the years, she developed strategic approaches to storytelling and convening that elevated MIF’s profile and strengthened connections across the media funding ecosystem. In her new role as Deputy Director of External Affairs, Nina will take on an expanded portfolio focused on strengthening strategic partnerships, deepening member engagement, supporting fundraising and revenue strategy, and working closely with MIF’s leadership team and Board of Directors to advance the organization’s long-term vision. She will continue to play a central role in shaping how MIF connects funders across journalism, documentary, public media, and technology. “I’ve spent the past decade helping build Media Impact Funders alongside an incredible team, and I’m excited to step into this new role at a moment when the field needs strong connection and coordination more than ever,” Nina said. “As Deputy Director of… Read More

We are so heartbroken by the sudden passing of Jessica Clark, a longtime consultant, collaborator and friend to Media Impact Funders, and the founder and director of Dot Connector Studio. Jessica passed away on Oct. 28. Jessica’s work helped shape much of how we—and the broader field—think about media impact. As MIF’s former Director of Research and Strategy, she brought extraordinary insight and creativity to our collective efforts to help funders and practitioners better understand how storytelling drives change. In addition to the rigorous quality of her research and analysis, Jessica brought a whimsical style to her work—always balancing complex ideas with humor and imagination. She delivered lessons about media impact on laminated place mats, on brightly designed decks of cards, and even with a spinning dial, Twister-style—anything to bring ideas to life in a creative, joyful way. Jessica was instrumental in shaping MIF’s programming, including the relaunch of the Media Impact Festival in 2013/14, which celebrated storytelling’s capacity to strengthen communities and transform society. Her frameworks, tools and curiosity helped build a shared language for understanding how media moves people and inspires change. In the 12 years Jessica spearheaded Dot Connector Studio,… Read More

Last month in Charlotte, N.C., Media Impact Funders co-hosted a keynote conversation with Press Forward on the future of public media in a moment of profound change. With the federal government eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the first time in more than 50 years, local public radio and television stations—especially those in rural, Tribal, and under-resourced communities—are facing immediate threats to their sustainability. Yet the conversation made clear: This moment is not only a crisis. It is also an opportunity to reimagine what public media can be. Moderated by MIF Board Chair Kayce Ataiyero, the panelists clearly articulated the value of public media and explored several questions around how to rebuild a system that can keep serving communities for generations to come. Luis Patiño, CEO of Austin PBS, noted, stations have always served entire communities across a lifetime, providing trusted journalism, educational children’s programming, music and arts coverage, and independent documentary film. “Public media serves the whole person,” he said. “Our value comes from our deep relationship with community, and that’s what makes new models possible.” For Ju-Don Marshall, Chief Content Officer at WFAE in… Read More

Last week, we welcomed Media Impact Funders’ new executive director Abby Rapoport with an online meet-and-greet for funders. The conversation, moderated by MIF board chair Kayce Ataiyero, was shaped by questions submitted in advance by funders, and offered Abby a chance to reflect on her career path, share what drew her to MIF at this moment, and outline her early priorities for the organization. The following is an edited Q&A from that exchange. Kayce Ataiyero: You’ve done a lot in a really eclectic and interesting career. Why MIF? Why now? Abby Rapoport:  I started as a journalist and that was kind of where I thought I would stay for my whole career. I loved being a reporter and I also was lucky because my career started at, what I didn’t realize at the time, was an extraordinary moment of change in the field. It was the very beginning of nonprofit journalism’s ascendancy. I was the first employee at the Texas Tribune. I got to see how that nonprofit was set up and started. Then I ended up working in publishing, and have been a small-scale publisher for the past… Read More

Dear Friends, I am thrilled to announce that the Board of Directors has appointed Abby Rapoport as Media Impact Funders’ next executive director. Abby was selected after an expansive national search conducted by Korn Ferry and brings to the role a diverse set of prior experiences as the co-founder of a media start-up, the head of a legacy media outlet, a media funder and a working journalist. She is currently co-founder and publisher of Stranger’s Guide, an award-winning publication that explores how politics, power and culture shape daily life across the globe. With a strong emphasis on the humanities, featuring short stories, creative nonfiction and photography, Stranger’s Guide aims to combat stereotypes and expand global citizenship. It has received four National Magazine Awards. Abby has extensive board experience, including having served on the boards of Type Media, the Texas Democracy Foundation and the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation. At the Rapoport Foundation, based in Waco, Texas, she worked collaboratively with other funders to build support for The… Read More