How public policy makes a difference for newsrooms and communities
Press Forward, Knight, MacArthur invest in Rebuild Local News, ground-level public policy
The real action of public policy is happening on the ground—in cities and states across the country that increasingly recognize the value of local news as a public good. They have led the way with initiatives like employment tax credits (New York, Illinois), funding for fellowship programs (New Mexico, California, Washington state, Illinois) and requirements for government advertising to support community and ethnic media (New York City, Chicago, San Francisco).
Accelerating this local momentum is why Press Forward recently announced $3.45 million in funding to support public policy in five state initiatives, along with funding grassroots efforts from key players in Rebuild Local News and Free Press to provide tools and resources to 36+ local chapters of Press Forward as they convene stakeholders and advance policies to support the newsrooms in their communities. Knight and MacArthur Foundation added to Press Forward’s investment in Rebuild Local News, for a total of $5.25 million in grants over three years. All this adds up to one of the largest investments ever made to advance public policy for local news.
So what does public policy look like in action? Let’s look at two key initiatives that are supporting rural, urban and suburban communities.
Government advertising: Modeled on an innovative program in New York City, states and cities can require that local ad spending go to smaller community and ethnic news organizations. Here’s how these programs help newsrooms and small businesses:
In Henrico, Va., the Henrico Citizen and Henrico County Economic Development Authority partnered to launch the Henrico Small Business Boost program in 2023. It provided subsidized, three-month advertising campaigns across the paper’s print, newsletter, digital, social and audio products for 20 small businesses. The Citizen launched a second round of the program last year, doubling grants to $80,000 for 40 small businesses.
San Francisco has developed and maintained a similar program. In FY 2022–23, the city spent $126,527 on advertising in community and ethnic media, recently expanding the effort as it spent thousands more on smaller media during a campaign around food waste. Maya Chupkov of California Common Cause recently organized a convening at San Francisco City Hall to discuss the advertising program. Chupkov said the program has progressed as more city departments get on board, showing a willingness to spend marketing budgets on small newsrooms.
Local fellowship programs: In these programs, a state typically funds a journalism school to run a fellowship program that pays the salary of reporters to work in newsrooms for a year or more. The programs are designed to create a pipeline for young reporters and boost reporting in underserved communities. Here’s how they have had an impact in three states:
California Local News Fellow Anthony Victoria (pictured up at the top) is an audio reporter for KVCR, an NPR affiliate in Southern California’s Inland Empire. He has helped his newsroom report on the wellbeing of immigrant communities in the wake of sometimes violent and unprecedented federal policies. One story in particular found that people from local agencies were being misidentified as immigration officers.
New Mexico Local News Fellow Kylie Garcia covered arts and culture for the Santa Fe New Mexican, writing more than 200 stories, and is now a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Her editor, Carolyn Graham, said the program “provided our publication with a person with a fresh perspective on the world and technology that opened all our eyes…We also opened her eyes to the importance of creativity and innovation.”
Murrow News Fellow Monica Carillo-Casas has been producing stories for Spokane Public Radio and the Spokesman Review in English and Spanish. “We all bring something unique and we are able to produce so many stories that have helped bridge the gap between media and communities,” she said in a video about the program. Three Murrow fellows have been covering the Washington state legislative session as well, and all coverage from fellows are free to publish for any news outlet.
What’s striking about these impacts is that they are being made around the country, in liberal, moderate and conservative areas. In many cases, these public policies were supported by both Democrats and Republicans, who understand what communities lose when they don’t have local reporting. We believe this unprecedented—and increasing—funding for public policy that supports local news will replicate these positive impacts in even more communities.
Other news around the horn…
Investments
Four J-schools get $3 million to expand loan repayment program. If journalism school grads are burdened with debt, it makes working in public service journalism that much harder. That’s why Knight is expanding the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) with a $3 million investment to help graduates pay off student debt while pursuing careers in public service journalism. The program supports grads from Columbia Journalism School and three other institutions, offering up to $50,000 in debt relief to those working in nonprofit newsrooms. In its first two years, LRAP has awarded more than $300,000 to 30 journalists. Recipients told Columbia the program has allowed them to focus on public service journalism as a career. “[LRAP] has already made that more feasible to me,” said Susanna Granieri, who works at First Amendment Watch. “And it lets me continue to do the work rather than look for work outside of journalism.”
McCormick invests $3.6 million in Medill for Chicago shared services hub. Journalism schools have not only become trusted partners for more and more local newsrooms, they are also increasingly helping to support the local news ecosystem in their area. The latest example comes from Northwestern’s Medill School, which will develop a shared services hub to support Chicago-area newsrooms, thanks to a $3.6 million investment from McCormick Foundation. Building on Medill’s Local News Accelerator, the hub will help newsrooms with research, audience growth, revenue diversification and legal services. “This new shared services hub…will allow [newsrooms] to spend more time focusing on what they do best—providing valuable journalism that helps residents be more informed about local matters that affect their daily lives,” said Medill dean Charles Whitaker. The grant will also support Medill’s statehouse reporting, solutions journalism training and its high school journalism program.
Convenings
INN members come together to provide support in difficult times. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) gathered for its annual INN Days under difficult circumstances, with concerns about covering immigration, journalist safety and federal funding cuts to public media. But member newsrooms found support by gathering together in community to discuss these problems and more, finding solutions through solidarity and collaboration. Key topics included creating supportive work environments in challenging times, leading through change and crises, with three sessions on digital and physical safety for journalists. One standout panel explored how smaller nonprofit newsrooms were developing their own metrics to measure impact, featuring Charlottesville Tomorrow’s innovative methods for tracking community input. INN also released an impressive impact report of its own for 2024, noting it now has more than 500 member organizations, has helped secure $14 million in funding for its members and more than 90% of INN startup newsrooms are still operating three years after launch.
Awards
Esserman-Knight, ICJF announce awards for impactful reporting. Sometimes it’s important to step back from the business of news to consider the people who truly make a difference in communities with hard-hitting reporting. The 2025 Esserman-Knight Awards, focused on reporting in South Florida, gave first place to the Miami Herald for its “Guilty of Grief” investigation of a police shooting of a 21-year-old mentally ill man, and the exposure of systemic failures in Florida’s mental health and criminal justice systems. Second place went to the Sun Sentinel for “Born to Die,” reporting on Florida’s infant mortality crisis. The Excellence in Journalism Award went to former Knight boss Alberto Ibargüen, who helped Knight invest more than $2.3 billion in journalism, arts, economic development and research. Meanwhile, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) announced its 2025 Knight Award winners: César Batiz, an investigative journalist in exile who is the co-founder and director of the pioneering El Pitazo in Venezuela; and Philip Obaji Jr., a Nigerian journalist who has documented Russian atrocities in Central and West Africa as a correspondent for The Daily Beast. The two winners will be honored Nov. 13 at the ICFJ Awards Dinner, along with NBC News’ Lester Holt, who will receive the ICFJ Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Products
In a dangerous time, Guardian provides secure messaging for journalists. As whistleblowers come under attack, and the Los Angeles Press Club tallied more than three dozen incidents of attacks on journalists by police during recent protests, it’s obvious that journalist safety is paramount. The Guardian, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, has launched a Secure Messaging tool for journalists so sources can securely share information. According to Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, the technology behind the tool “conceals the fact that messaging is taking place at all by making the communication indistinguishable from other data sent to and from the app by our millions of regular users.” Plus, the Guardian is making the open-source code available for other publishers to adapt. Meanwhile, the Intercept’s Press Freedom Defense Fund launched a special fund to cover legal and safety expenses for reporters and photographers, including freelancers, facing hardships while covering protests in Los Angeles and in other parts of the country.
LION offers members on-demand Sustainability Audits. LION Publishers has had tremendous success with running Sustainability Audits for 354 newsrooms since 2022, helping publishers get customized feedback on their road to sustainability. Now, LION is offering free, on-demand audits to its members. Publishers can complete a short questionnaire to receive customized feedback based on all the audits and recommendations previously conducted. The first 50 participants also receive a free hour of coaching. In Wichita, the Wichita Foundation helped fund Sustainability Audits for four local publishers that had received support from Press Forward Wichita. Wichita Foundation’s chief strategy officer, Courtney Bengtson, said the audits were not only helpful for newsrooms but also for the funder. “They’re a strategic tool,” she said. “They help you understand where an organization is today and what kind of support could truly move the needle. It’s a thoughtful way to invest in the capacity and resilience of the local news organizations you’re supporting.”
Call-Outs
LMA Lab for Local Journalism Funding is accepting applications for newsrooms to join the 2025 national cohort to learn how to sustain their journalism with philanthropic support. Up to 24 media companies will be invited to participate in the six-month program that runs from August through January 2026. Apply by June 30.
The Nonprofit News Business Certificate program, developed by the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, in partnership with the American Journalism Project and Blue Engine Collaborative, is accepting applications for its second cohort. This nine-month hybrid, project-based business training invites nonprofit professionals to hone the fundamentals of the news business. Full scholarships covering the $20,000 tuition will be covered by funding from Knight. Apply by July 11.
ProPublica opened applications for five new local newsroom partners to join its 50 State Initiative, a commitment to partner with at least one newsroom in every state by 2029. ProPublica will reimburse news organizations for the salary of the selected reporter (up to $75,000 plus a benefits stipend) so they can spend a year working full time on an accountability journalism project. ProPublica also provides editing support, along with data, research, visual storytelling, graphics, design, audience and engagement expertise. Apply by July 21.
Fellowships
Altavoz Lab Community Journalism Fellowship
Funding for a 7-month project covering disinvested communities.
$6,000 to $11,000
Apply by July 18
Info Sessions
Become a Report for America Host Newsroom
Q&A sessions with RFA’s recruitment team for interested host newsrooms.
Free and online
July 17, July 24
News Startup Sessions with INN and Tiny News Collective
Small group sessions for those who want to launch a news organization.
$15
July 8, July 22
Jobs
Knight Foundation, Vice President of Journalism
Learn more here.
Press Forward, Development & Partnerships Manager
Learn more here.
Texas Tribune, Editor-in-Chief, Austin local newsroom
Learn more here.
Colorado Sun, Chief Operating Officer
Learn more here
Missouri School of Journalism, Reynolds Chair in Journalism Strategy and Business Operations
Learn more here.
EdSource, Executive Editor
Learn more here.
Institute for Nonprofit News, Research Director
Learn more here.
Upcoming Events 📅
Association of Alternative Media
Madison, Wisc.
July 9–11
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Chicago
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Seattle
July 30–August 3
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Cleveland
August 6–10
Albuquerque
August 13–15
Independent News Sustainability Summit from LION Publishers
St. Louis
September 3–5
The Association for LGBTQ+ Journalists
Atlanta
September 4–7
New Orleans
September 10–13
Keane, N.H.
October 7–9
Chicago
October 23–24
Quote of the Week
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News @ Knight Credits
Written by Duc Luu, with Mark Glaser
Edited by Atena Sherry and Kara Pickman
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