Nonprofit Journalism on the Rise

This article, featuring nonprofit media outlet the Voice of San Diego [California, United States (US)], claims that at a time of lay-offs and budget cuts at traditional newspapers, foundations and donors are funding new journalism ventures. As stated in the article, while commercial newspapers are reducing staff and newspapers' physical size, some small nonprofit newspapers both online and in print format, funded largely by foundations and individual donors, are increasing in staff size and readership.


The executive director of the San Diego paper claims the reason is that these publications fill a gap in news coverage. His publication focuses on housing, growth, and politics, which he feels are "what people need to know the most." Though readership is 17,000 daily, compared to the 1.2 million monthly readers of the larger for-profit competitor, there is sufficient donor support to hire young investigative reporters, who attract readers through their "watchdog" work on a city-wide level.

Though nonprofit newspapers are not new, the internet is making start-ups easier because it eliminates printing costs. As stated here, "Voice of San Diego has influenced newspaper projects in [US] towns such as St. Louis; New Haven, Conn.; and Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, the nonprofit MinnPost launched print and online editions last November." The managing editor indicates that papers tied to subscriptions and advertising must choose stories that attract readership. Nonprofit papers are able to focus on a narrower range of news. This is the case with a nonprofit investigative journalism organisation, ProPublic, which focuses on investigating abuse of power and public trust and offers its stories free-of-charge to other media.


Some donors are characterised as wanting to stem a decline in newspapers, considered to be "a real loss to the health of our democracy." Whether nonprofit news media becomes a trend depends, as stated in the article, on the sustainability of philanthropic support as a business model.