Report for America, relying on private philanthropy, is staffing newsrooms nationwide

Ginny Monk from the CT Mirror was sitting a short distance away from me; I was taking notes for a certain hearing at the state board of education. Before the hearing began, one of the attorneys asked Ginny who was paying her salary; she replied, mentioning grants, one from “Report for America”.

Last month, investigator George Colli posted about the CT Mirror’s funders. It appears this is one of the deep financial wells that reaches into local papers, across America. Excerpt:

“Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. An initiative of the nonprofit media organization, The Ground Truth Project, it is structured to harness the skills and idealism of an emerging group of journalists plus the creative spirit of local news organizations.”

Granted, traditional newsrooms have floundered in the face of social media and alternative sources of information. For the ‘mainstream’ to compete, they’ve had to pool resources—and rely on wealthy donors. Most people have no issue with philanthropy, but motives can be called into question if the journalism is erroneous or missing context.

Report for America has placed over 600 journalists into 330+ newsrooms across the nation. And no organization “dedicated to democracy” would be complete without a commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

The Record-Journal, recently bought by Hearst Media CT, has 2 reporters highlighted in the site’s newsrooms, along with the Mirror.

Here are notable donors that Connecticut residents should be aware of.

$5,000-$49,999: Newspapers of New England

$50,000-$499,999: Google News Initiative – $400,000; Arthur Vining Davis Foundation – $250,000; Commonwealth Fund (CT US senator’s brother David stepped down in 2022) – $100,111; MacArthur Foundation – $100,000

$500,000+: Meta Journalism Project – $6.5M; Google News Initiative – $1.25M; Microsoft – $716,000; Corporation for Public Broadcasting – $648,912; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – $550,000

Local Newsroom Supporters: Blumenthal Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Facebook

“Report for America’s local sustainability team interviewed more than 30 philanthropic and newsroom leaders to develop its findings. Featured communities included Traverse City, Mich., Lancaster, Pa., Fresno, Calif., Lexington, Ky., New Haven, Conn., Rappahannock, Va., Seattle, Fauquier County, Va. and statewide efforts in Pennsylvania and California.”https://www.reportforamerica.org/communitynewsfunds/ 

Sally Finck is editor in chief of the Continental Tribune LLC.