Press Forward, a coalition of donors, will support local news with fund of more than $500 million
It’s time to reshape the landscape of local journalism. Introducing #PressForward: An unprecedented philanthropic collaboration to inform and engage communities by bolstering local news with an investment of over $500M. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Carnegie Corporation of New York announced today that it is joining a coalition of 22 philanthropic donors as part of Press Forward, an unprecedented collaboration to strengthen communities and our democracy by supporting local news through a fund of more than $500 million. The Corporation is awarding $5 million in addition to its existing portfolio of media grants.
The goal of Press Forward is to recenter local news as a force for community cohesion, to support new models and solutions that are ready to scale, and to reduce inequities in journalism coverage and practice. The Corporation’s participation reflects its longstanding commitment to journalism in the public interest and the mission of its founder, Andrew Carnegie, who established the Corporation in 1911 for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.
Since 2005, approximately 2,200 local newspapers have closed, resulting in 20 percent of Americans living in “news deserts” with little to no reliable coverage of important local events. In response, a wide range of funders designed Press Forward to deploy significant resources to support local news initiatives with a focus on greater coordination and peer learning. To guide their grantmaking, funders aligned on a set of shared values that prioritize community needs and issues such as ensuring accessibility to news and preserving the editorial independence of news organizations.
“Like others across the country, we at Carnegie Corporation of New York have been greatly concerned by the growing polarization of American society and by the erosion of the forces of social cohesion,” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of the foundation. “We believe that together these trends are undermining the strength of our democracy. By investing in local news through the Press Forward initiative, we have an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that many more communities have access to local news coverage and fact-based information about issues that affect their daily lives. In so doing, we seek to encourage unfettered civil discourse and freedom of speech, hallmarks of any vibrant democracy.”
Since the 1960s, the Corporation has supported nonprofit journalism in the public interest. Recommendations from the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television led to the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 and the establishment of PBS. The Corporation commissioned a related study that resulted in the creation of the Children’s Television Workshop and funding for Sesame Street. Today the Corporation supports dozens of media organizations, especially publications that provide information about the foundation’s program work in democracy, education, and international peace and security.
In addition to Carnegie Corporation of New York, initial Press Forward partners are the Archewell Foundation; the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln; Democracy Fund; the Ford Foundation; Mary W. Graham; Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group; the Heising-Simons Foundation; the Henry Luce Foundation; the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the Joyce Foundation; KFF; Knight Foundation; the Lenfest Institute for Journalism; Lumina Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the Outrider Foundation; the Rita Allen Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Skyline Foundation; and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
“We have a moment to support the reimagination, revitalization, and rapid development of local news. We are prepared to support the strongest ideas and seed new ones; build powerful networks; and invest in people, organizations, and networks with substantial resources,” said John Palfrey, president of the MacArthur Foundation, who helped spearhead the fund. “The philanthropic sector recognizes the need to strengthen American democracy and is beginning to see that progress on every other issue, from education and health care to criminal justice reform and climate change, is dependent on the public’s understanding of the facts.”
Press Forward is independent of ideology and plans to work with More Perfect, a bipartisan initiative that is advancing five interrelated democracy goals, one of which is Access to Trusted News and Information.
“Press Forward is an audacious effort to fortify a key pillar of American democracy, a healthy and independent free press,” said John Bridgeland, CEO of More Perfect. “Local news provides critical information, knits communities together, and keeps public officials accountable, all of which are essential to a thriving democracy.”
Press Forward partners are maintaining individual grantmaking strategies as well as working toward a shared vision and coordinated action. Each has committed to making grants in one or more of these four areas of focus:Strengthen local newsrooms that have the trust of local communities: There is a growing movement of community-focused journalism across the nation that is shifting how the critical stories of our time are being told. We need to make bold investments in local news organizations and the networks that support and grow them
Accelerate the enabling environment for news production and dissemination: We need to scale the infrastructure required to support a thriving independent local news sector, expanding shared services and tools — from legal support to membership programs.
Close longstanding inequalities in journalism coverage and practice: We must move resources to newsrooms and organizations that are improving diversity of experience and thought along with the availability of accurate and responsive news and information in historically underserved communities and economically challenged news deserts.
Advance public policies that expand access to local news and civic information: We need new frameworks and robust coalitions to advance policy ideas that expand access to news and information while strengthening the First Amendment and protecting the editorial independence of local journalists. Investments in nonpartisan public policy development, analysis, and advocacy are needed at the local, state, and national levels.
The Miami Foundation will serve as the fiscal sponsor for Press Forward and will manage a pooled fund and coordinate aligned grantmaking on behalf of participating funders. Some donors are expected to make grants aligned with Press Forward before the end of the year. Donors will make grants from the pooled fund in 2024. Organizations interested in Press Forward can learn more about applying for grants and seeking additional guidance. Press Forward welcomes and continues to invite additional funders to enhance nonprofit, public, and for-profit news and information.