Philanthropy is taking on a greater role in US journalism as the continued decline in newspapers leaves major holes in coverage. The Lenfest Institute held a summit on philanthropic support for journalism and lays out great lessons. One that I like: No doesn’t mean never.
There was big news in my backyard yesterday as local funders announced the launch of one of the biggest non-profit newsrooms in the country. Funders in the area have been concerned about the loss of local news coverage as the major paper, the Plain Dealer has been decimated by cuts. The model is interesting and is looking to do more than simply replace what has been lost with the staffing at the Plain Dealer. They are looking to address historic issues of inequity in coverage. I welcome the experiment, and we’ll see how their model of providing basic information and more community-focused coverage. There is some gushing talk about new business models from boosters, but there isn’t any detail about that. I’m not surprised by that, but it is disappointing.
PLUS Google, Facebook and Amazon will hoover up a majority of US digital ad spend this year. (Not exactly breaking news.) A US state has launched a media literacy project in schools. Axel Springer is making a big bet on audio. How will Meta affect e-commerce? Twitter rolls out subscription services.
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