Welcome to Second Rough Draft, a newsletter about journalism in our time, how it (often its business) is evolving, and the challenges it faces.
The long-awaited philanthropic initiative for local news, dubbed Press Forward, has now been unveiled. The announcement is here.
I’m at a family celebration the next few days, and would love to hear your reactions to the announcement, either in the comments below, or directly by email: dick.tofel@gallatinadvisory.com. I’ll offer my own thoughts when I return next week.
Thanks Dick for focusing our attention on Press Forward. Ditto to the thoughtful comments here.
Focus on local journalism is a good thing. Clearly the models of relying on advertising and legal notices are obsolete. This is a time of experimenting. The grants sound encouraging.
But the details matter. In my experience working with local business pubs in NJ and Pa., the challenges are many. Reporters who show solid journalism skills are often promoted to editor without any training. They in turn work with inexperienced reporters. Resources are nonexistent, etc etc.
Among my questions about the $500 million in grants:
Will there be training in: basic reporting skills; journalism ethics and the distinctions about what is legal and what is ethical; the latest in libel law; research; editing; digital skills; when and how to make corrections, managing (up and down); business (digital advertising, subscriptions); community relations; how to access public information, including working with the agency, filing FOIA requests, appealing denials?
How much training is baked into these grants and who does the training?
Is there a legal defense fund to help reporters with no resources appeal public info denials, deny a subpoena or handle a defamation claim?
Are there partnerships with local journalism schools to support training and diversity?
And what are the measurement tools used to confirm whether the training and grants have been effective?
Who are the decision makers? The locals (with guidance) or the funders?
How do these grants conflict with, or work in tandem with, other grants out there and what is the impact on fundraising for orgs outside the Press Forward umbrella?
Thanks for listening and I look forward to your thoughts and comments about the grants.
Kris
It's a good thing and John Palfrey's public comments so far (at the Media Impact Funders conference, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV6KTHWXiiU) suggested the leaders of the initiative are thinking in the right direction.
I've long thought that one of the key challenges for nonprofit journalism is raising the awareness that philanthropy is an essential part of the funding mix. When I enter Cityside Journalism Initiative into the various charity databases, there is never a category for journalism. The number of foundations that give to journalism remains a fraction of the total. When I talk to major donors about giving, it's very rare that they have ever considered journalism before.
John Thornton used to say that philanthropic funding for journalism nationally was about on a par with funding for ballet. I'm hopeful that Press Forward can be an inflection point that helps journalism be recognized as an essential part of our civic and democratic infrastructure, which both deserves and desperately requires major philanthropic funding.