Paul's Web Space 2.1

SFGate: Foundations have role in keeping local journalism vibrant

Dan Gillmor wrote an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that calls upon foundations to help shore up local community journalism, because newspapers are having such a tough time surviving in these days of declining ad revenue and increasing competition (particularly in the classified advertising space). Given that most newspapers are for-profit entities, this would require foundations to open up their criteria to enable them to fund such entities, somewhat along the lines of social entrepreneurship (where organizational structure is less important than social impact in deciding whom to fund). He discusses the Knight News Challenge, a contest run by a foundation that dispenses with traditional non-profit criteria in favor of ideas and results.

This is timely, because the newspaper at which I work (while not hyperlocal, we do represent a specialized community) is puzzling out how to sell the concept of community media to foundations. Another aspect of our existence, however, provides additional insight on the survival of community/local journalism. Editorial Projects in Education is a non-profit organization, which enables us to focus on our mission as well as the bottom line. Observers of the news media are starting to point to non-profit or private ownership as ways to preserve quality journalism – or journalism at all – in the face of extreme commercial pressures. These observations emanate not only from advocacy organizations (Free Press : Who Owns the Media?), but also from professional organizations (Project for Excellence in Journalism: State of the News Media 2007) and foundations themselves (Carnegie Reporter: "Nonprofit Journalism: Removing the Pressure of the Bottom Line").

Dan Gillmor also wrote the book We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, which provides many examples and tips on creating community journalism.    Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/17/ED1OS4OIU.DTL

¶ 8:56 AM | Permalink | |
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