Three generations in one family champion local investigative reporting
Essermans finally see their dream of an in-person award ceremony in Miami
They’ve been waiting for three years to tell all of South Florida just how important and impactful investigative reporting can be: The lives it can save, the laws it can change, the officials it can hold accountable.
And finally, this month, a South Florida family was able to see their full vision realized. Three generations of Essermans––a family well-known in Miami for both their car dealerships and arts philanthropy––brought journalists and local champions together to celebrate public service and investigative reporting.
It was back in 2020 when the Esserman family––the late Ron Esserman and wife, Charlene; their four children, Jim, Susan, Lisa and Laura; and nine grandchildren, David, Marc, Stephen, Clifford, Michael, Elyse, Alexis, Marisa and Max––launched the Esserman Family Fund for Investigative Journalism at the Miami Foundation with a $2.5 million endowment. This was no small feat; the Essermans wanted their philanthropy to be profound. And today, their investment supports investigative reporting fellows in South Florida newsrooms and financial prizes for excellence in local investigative reporting. The Essermans started with a simple premise: “What we celebrate in a community, we value.” Ultimately, they chose to celebrate local journalism.
It had always been the Essermans’ dream to host an awards ceremony at the Arsht Center, a downtown Miami performing arts facility the family had also supported, but the pandemic postponed any in-person gatherings. It was just this month that the Esserman family was able to welcome more than 100 attendees––journalists, news leaders and community champions––to the physical stage to celebrate the Esserman-Knight Journalism Awards in person.
Originally, the family had considered a number of ideas for its philanthropy. (Remember, there were 15 Essermans at the table. Think about a big, boisterous family dinner.) Granddaughter Elyse Goldberg shared that the family knew it could make a larger investment in the arts; it might have also picked a women’s rights organization or it might fund transportation. There were so many possibilities. They’d already supported the zoo and the ballet. Family debate was robust. Eventually, the three generations agreed that by investing in investigative reporting and a free press, they could support their many interests at once. The Essermans have been engaged in the awards program, reviewing all the finalist entries together and discussing which demonstrated journalistic rigor and incorporated a diversity of community voices.
This year, there were 56 entries and 14 finalists, and the family, in partnership with Knight, awarded six cash prizes. First place and $10,000 went to a team at the South Florida Sun Sentinel for its sex-trafficking investigation (since publication, a new law has been passed in Florida to help trafficking victims) and second place and $5,000 was awarded to a team at Noticias Telemundo for a series about Latino immigrants over-participating in clinical trials. (Here’s a full list of 2023 winners.)
This isn’t the first time Knight has collaborated with local champions to advise on and launch powerful and creative journalism initiatives. We partnered with the late Gerry Lenfest in 2018 to launch the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, which supports programs that serve Philadelphia’s racially diverse audiences, produce outstanding journalism and civic information with trusted community partners and develop new revenue streams for local journalism. The Fund, like the Esserman Family Fund for Investigative Reporting, was inspired by the idea that local journalism powers civic health and local democracy.
At Knight, we invite local champions who want to serve their community’s information needs to share their ideas with us. Behind the scenes, we are collaborating regularly with local journalism champions, families, individuals or place-based foundations. Feel free to reach out to me at rundlet@kf.org.
A big honor for the big boss
Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen received a tremendous honor last week when the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named him the recipient of the 2023 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. While Alberto announced in March that he would be stepping down from his role at Knight, this honor reflects his many years of devotion to keeping journalists safe around the globe. Most of Knight’s work is focused on local news in the United States, but some priorities are too important to sit out. Keeping journalists safe is one of those. Knight has funded CPJ since 1988 and the International Center for Journalists since 1987. In fact, CPJ’s New York headquarters is named the Knight Foundation Press Freedom Center, something we at the foundation are very proud of.
Other news around the horn…
Launches
🌾 INN launches Rural News Network. The scourge of news deserts is most pronounced, as you might expect, in rural and indigenous communities of the United States. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is trying to bring some deeper reporting to such areas with the official launch of the Rural News Network (RNN). The network includes 68 nonprofit newsrooms of all sizes, and was piloted starting in 2021. Funding comes from Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Walton Family Foundation and others, with a collaborative focus on topics such as health equity, water scarcity and education. “RNN members are critical in the effort to redefine the news ecosystem locally and nationally,” Michael Harvey, a program officer at MacArthur, told INN. “This new platform is an important step to shining a light on the nuances of rural communities, adding a vital but often under-heard voice to the national discourse through trustworthy and sustained reporting.”
💴 TikTok offers publishers 50 percent cut of ads. There are two sure things about TikTok: 1) It is wildly popular, with more than 4 billion worldwide downloads, and 2) It is controversial due to its ties to China’s government. The U.S. is considering a ban, while Montana just passed one on the app. Many news publishers are focusing on its popularity, and TikTok is now offering a cut of 50 percent of ad revenues for video ads that run after their content. The new Pulse Premiere product shows that TikTok values more than just creators, and has signed up big publishers such as Condé Nast, BuzzFeed and NBC for the product. While Meta and Alphabet have dominated digital ads, TikTok is expected to have a 2.5 percent share of the U.S. digital ad market this year, growing 36 percent to $6.83 billion, according to Insider Intelligence. That’s a whole lot of dancing and lip-synching.
Research
🔥 Ethnic and community media thriving in New Jersey. Once considered niche news sources, ethnic and community media are growing and becoming more financially sustainable in New Jersey. That’s the finding of a new report from the Center for Cooperative Media (CCM) at Montclair State University, which cataloged more than 140 news outlets in 15 languages across the state. As New Jersey becomes a majority non-white state, the number of such outlets has risen 15 percent since 2019. And 25 percent of ethnic and community media serve Asian Americans, while 22 percent serve Latinos, and 16 news outlets serve the African American community. Still, they need more funding for training and digital skills. “It’s essential to recognize that as long as our nation continues to welcome new immigrants, ethnic and community news outlets will not only persist but flourish alongside our evolving communities,” wrote CCM’s Anthony Advincula. Read the whole report here.
⚖️ Legal threats accelerating against journalists. If you follow the fate of journalists around the globe, you know that many are being threatened with prison, torture and death. Now a landmark study from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, shows just how bad it is: 47.6 percent of journalists surveyed say they or their news outlets have faced legal threats based on their journalism. Those threats come in many forms, including being charged with treason, financial crimes, defamation and more. The report suggests bringing more exposure to these threats, providing more legal support and advocacy, and increasing collaboration and coordination among supporters of journalists. “We need a legal defense strategy,” Joel Simon, lead author of the report and former executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Nieman Reports. “If you want to defend the rights of journalists, we’re going to have to expand support for journalists facing legal threats.”
Impact
🎸AJPalooza rocks Cleveland. It’s not the Red Hot Chili Peppers wailing from the main stage at Grant Park, but AJPalooza in Cleveland included 37 local news publishers—grantees of the American Journalism Project (AJP)—talking about their mind-blowing wins over the past year. In fact, AJP grantees grew revenue 30 percent last year through a variety of revenue streams, including membership. The initial AJP cohort from 2019 increased its budgets 66 percent to produce local news and saw revenue more than double. A panel also included three Cleveland-based Documenters, local citizens paid to cover government meetings. There were even a few field trips to better understand community engagement. “We’re grateful for this time together, the progress that was made, and we left feeling inspired and optimistic for the future of local news,” AJP concluded.
👩 Sue Cross to step down as INN leader. When it comes to impact in local news, few can compare to Sue Cross, executive director and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). So it is sad news to hear that Sue will be leaving INN by the end of the year. She joined INN in 2015 and helped turn it into a powerhouse of 425 nonprofit news outlets that employ 4,200 journalists. In a time of contraction and layoffs in legacy media, INN and its members have been a bright spot of growth and excellence. “I’ve been honored to support INN members who are leading the movement to provide news as a public good— and inspired by the outstanding journalism they generate,” Cross said. She will continue to consult in local news while working on a personal project for two years. Her strong, steady leadership will be sorely missed.
Training
Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership
CUNY J+
September 5, 2023, to June 28, 2024
$27,000, with scholarships available
Deadline to apply: June 2
Fellowships
Allbritton Journalism Institute Reporting Fellowships
$60,000 annual pay plus benefits
Deadline: May 31
Local Investigations Fellowship at the New York Times
One year salary, from $76,000 to $82,000
Deadline: June 1
$10,000 for artists and journalists
Deadline: June 9
Upcoming Events 📅
Collaborative Journalism Summit
Washington, DC
June 6–7
Washington, DC
June 8–9
Chicago
June 8–10
Orlando
June 22–25
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Miami
July 12–15
Asian American Journalists Association
Washington, DC
July 19–23
National Association of Black Journalists
Birmingham, AL
August 2–6
Native American Journalists Association
Winnipeg
August 10–12
Philadelphia
August 23–26
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News @ Knight Credits
Written by Karen Rundlet, with Mark Glaser
Edited by Jim Brady, Jessica Clark and Kara Pickman
A Knight + Dot Connector Joint
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