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www.salon.com/...nonprofit_journalism - Cached - Annotated View

Cynthia McCune's personal annotations on this page

cynmccune
Cynmccune bookmarked on 2009-04-14 future of news newspapers news media non-profit
  • newspapers have been driven to the brink by the expectation of making the kind of double-digit profits that large corporate owners demand, and by the financial shenanigans, including loading up on debt, that corporate ownership has brought.
  • The challenge for nonprofit journalism is both daunting and exciting. Long before the current recession and radical cutbacks, many newspapers had lost their community watchdog function, no longer bothering with the expensive and time-consuming work of investigative reporting. A 2005 survey by Arizona State University of the 100 largest U.S. dailies found that 37 percent had no full-time investigative reporters, and the majority of the major dailies had two or fewer.
  • The Center for Investigative Reporting signals one way forward for nonprofit journalism. Founded in 1977, it has a long history of collaborating with other news organizations, including Salon, to conduct and publish original reporting.
  • It funds reporting that finds a home in multiple outlets -- on the Web, in print, and on TV and radio. And it's now starting a California-focused reporting initiative to try to pick up the slack as Golden State newspapers shrink.
  • Recently the buzz has been about the Huffington Post, which recently launched an "Investigative Fund" with an initial budget of $1.75 million. More flush is ProPublica, founded in 2007 and edited by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. It's underwritten mostly by the family foundation funded by billionaires Herb and Marion Sandler's mortgage fortune, which has committed $10 million a year to the project. The newsroom consists of 28 journalists, producing stories given away free to other media outlets, including newspapers and Web sites.

This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 13 Apr 2009, by Joan Cenedella.

  • 14 Apr 09
    cynmccune
    Cynthia McCune

    future of news newspapers news media non-profit

    • newspapers have been driven to the brink by the expectation of making the kind of double-digit profits that large corporate owners demand, and by the financial shenanigans, including loading up on debt, that corporate ownership has brought.
    • The challenge for nonprofit journalism is both daunting and exciting. Long before the current recession and radical cutbacks, many newspapers had lost their community watchdog function, no longer bothering with the expensive and time-consuming work of investigative reporting. A 2005 survey by Arizona State University of the 100 largest U.S. dailies found that 37 percent had no full-time investigative reporters, and the majority of the major dailies had two or fewer.
    • 3 more annotations...
  • 13 Apr 09
    joany9
    Joan Cenedella

    Is going nonprofit the best way for journalism to get by? Take the word of leading editors who already have their hand out.