NewsMatch raises $7.6 million for nonprofit news organizations in 2018

Washington, D.C. (Feb. 12, 2019): NewsMatch raised $7.6 million from individual donors and a coalition of major funders for nonprofit news organizations in two months at the end of 2018. During the largest-ever grassroots fundraising campaign to support local news, over 240,000 people gave to 154 newsrooms between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. More than 50,000 new donors supported a nonprofit newsroom for the first time. Read More

Journalism needs financial support now more than ever, and philanthropy is stepping up to revive quality journalism and reconfigure the news media ecosystem around the world. Recently, Media Impact Funders invited scholars, grantmakers and other practitioners to a webinar organized around two recent reports that shed light on the field of philanthropic support for journalism. Funding the News: Foundations and Nonprofit Media categorizes tens of thousands of journalism and media-related grants totaling $1.8 billion between 2010 and 2015 made all over the world. Interviews with nonprofit journalists, experts, and funders inform an analysis of trends in philanthropic support for journalism. This working paper was a collaboration between Northeastern University’s School of Journalism and Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. The second report, Funding Journalism, Finding Innovation: Success Stories and Ideas for Creative, Sustainable Partnerships  surfaces pioneering funding practices in journalism through case studies of four different funder-publisher collaboratives. The study was a joint project of the Shorenstein Center and Media Impact Funders. Watch the webinar here and use the time stamps below to follow along in the recording: The webinar featured: Nicco Mele (3:50), director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics… Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nina Sachdev, communications director, Media Impact Funders nina@mediafunders.org or 215-574-1322 Media Impact Funders, in Collaboration with Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Publishes Report on Innovative Approaches to Journalism Funding  PHILADELPHIA, PA (JUNE 20, 2018)—Media Impact Funders, a member-supported network of funders who seek to improve society through media and technology, has partnered with Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy to produce a case study report—Funding Journalism, Finding Innovation: Success Stories and Ideas for Creative, Sustainable Partnerships—that surfaces pioneering funding practices in journalism. As the field of journalism continues to grapple with limited resources and dwindling revenues, it’s clear that financial support is needed now more than ever. Philanthropy, in response to the radically changing landscape, is stepping up to revive quality journalism and reconfigure the news media ecosystem. And, in fact, funding for nonprofit news media has seen a notable uptick in philanthropic support, oftentimes in the form of new types of grants. “While this guide shows only a small sampling of how funders and publishers are working together to financially sustain the fourth estate, we hope that it nonetheless serves as a starting point for… Read More

This week, the Peabody Awards announced nine winners in the Documentary category, including Chasing Coral—the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning film that uses beautiful time-lapse imagery to document the world’s dying coral reefs—and Newtown—the gripping story of a community struggling to recover from the deadly mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. (You can view the full list of winners here.) Read More

Sexual harassment has been in the headlines since October, driven by women’s reactions to the high-profile outing of Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual predator. Read More

What can be said about President Trump that hasn’t already been said? With an overwhelming amount of news media coverage devoted to his every comment—whether on Twitter or IRL—it’s hard to even imagine waking up to a headline that’s not about him. And for the last year, we barely have. Read More

The recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., has thrust racist ideas into the national conversation in ways Americans haven't experienced before. Of course, tensions around race relations in the U.S. have been steadily building over the past few years, with high-profile protests around police shootings and a resurgence in hate groups. Intolerance in the streets has mirrored a spike in divisive rhetoric online, where trolls "drown out the voices of women, ethnic and religious minorities, gays—anyone who might feel vulnerable," observes Joel Stein in Time. But most disturbingly, these same sentiments can now be heard in the highest corridors of power. Read More

By the American Press Institute As nonprofit funding of news grows, what are the best practices for ensuring editorial independence? Read More

By Nathalie Applewhite | managing director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Last month, Ellen Laipson, president emeritus of the Stimson Center and an expert in global policymaking, wrote an essay about a special issue of the New York Times Magazine called “Fractured Lands,” a manifestation of 18 months of reporting into why and how the Arab world collapsed. Read More