Funding Journalism for a Stronger Democracy

Philanthropy is stepping in to fund local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability

By Celeste FordJuly 17, 2024
Carnegie Reporter Summer 2024
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Credit: Jill Ferry Photography via Getty Images

This election year, Americans are asked to consider many important issues, yet the latest research shows that more than half of the counties nationwide have either no access or very limited access to local news. Nonprofit newsrooms are working to serve these “news deserts” but have struggled to stay open for the same reasons traditional outlets are struggling. Today, philanthropy is responding with dramatic increases in funding, including dozens of new journalism grantmakers.

The most significant initiative is called Press Forward. The funder collaborative raised an unprecedented half billion dollars in 2023, including $5 million from Carnegie Corporation of New York, and is aiming for $1 billion. It will offer historic levels of support for a “local news renaissance that will . . . re-center local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability.” After launching in January, Press Forward announced the creation of 17 local chapters in less than two months, and has issued its first open call for small local newsrooms to apply for $100,000 grants.

“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 Corporation. “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. In so doing, we seek to encourage unfettered civil discourse and freedom of speech, hallmarks of any vibrant democracy.”

According to a recent survey of 129 funders and 431 news organizations:

FUNDING IS ACCELERATING ...

report increased grantmaking for journalism over the past five years

... AND IS FOCUSED ON LOCAL ISSUES

currently make grants to increase local journalism production

The Corporation has funded public interest journalism for 60 years, and today, the grants run into the millions annually. Some pay for programs that train journalists or develop long-term sustainability models, but like most foundations, the Corporation primarily supports coverage of topics related to its program priorities. These include K–16 education, voter access and voting rights, and international peace and security. A summary of each grant is posted in the searchable grants database available on the Corporation’s website.

A recent survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, Journalism and Philanthropy: Growth, Diversity, and Potential Conflicts of Interest, provides an overview of the sector’s role and influence. Commissioned by Media Impact Funders and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the report looks at the surge in grants to nonprofit and for-profit newsrooms, the growing focus on communities of color, the importance of editorial independence, and the need for transparency in disclosing who is funding news coverage.

In one of the most promising findings, journalism funders were asked about their decision-making, and 81 percent said that promoting “civic engagement with trusted news and information” was an extremely or very important factor. 


Celeste Ford is the chief communications officer at Carnegie Corporation of New York. 
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