• Obama Envisions 'Golden Days' for Journalism

    Megan Tady
    September 11, 2009

    In the midst of this journalism crisis, which is not simply about newspapers dying but about quality reporting disappearing across platforms, there was a kernel of hope this week. Call it a moment of sanity. It came during President Obama’s remarks at the memorial service for the late CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite.

    Obama said, “Journalism is more than a career; it is a public good vital to our democracy.” Read the full transcript or watch the video:

  • Listen: Pentagon's Secret Journalist Profiling Program Revealed

    Stevie Converse
    September 11, 2009

    The Pentagon has been compiling secret background profiles of journalists seeking to embed with the military, the newspaper Stars & Stripes reported last month.

  • Net Neutrality Paranoia an Insult to Conservatives

    Phillip Dampier
    September 11, 2009

    I usually don’t spend a whole lot of time debunking the more crazy conspiracy theories about Net Neutrality because I presume most online users are smart enough not to be suckered into sideshow distractions, usually paid for by providers trying to wave shiny keys at consumers to get them to support things exactly opposite their own best interests.

  • What's the Future of Foundations and Journalism?

    Josh Stearns
    September 4, 2009

    On Thursday, Sept. 3, foundation leaders, journalists and concerned citizens gathered here at SaveTheNews.org to discuss the role of foundations in the future of journalism.

    Many participants were enthusiastic about what appears to be a new era in foundation funding for local, state and national reporting projects. As more foundations turn their attention to the news and information needs of communities, participants expressed hope that this funding model could help to develop a strong and vibrant noncommercial journalism sector in America.

  • Eight Foundations and a Football

    Jim Barnett
    September 3, 2009

    This post is part of our week-long forum on foundation-funded journalism. Join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET to chat live with these writers.

    A lot of important questions about foundation-funded journalism are being kicked around these days. Can foundations fill the void? Will they try to skew coverage? Is their support reliable? Or is it a fad?

    I've been mulling a more basic question: Do foundations know what the heck they're getting themselves into? I'm not so sure.

  • The Growing Trend of Foundation-Funded Journalism

    David Westphal
    September 3, 2009

    This post is part of our week-long forum on foundation-funded journalism. Join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET to chat live with these writers.

    --

    I was fairly sure, based on anecdotal evidence, that something new was happening in the world of foundation-funded journalism. Too many new nonprofit news organizations were springing up, most of them sporting foundation funding. But the real clincher came in a conversation I had with Bill Buzenberg, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity. Bill told me that suddenly, he was getting cold calls from foundations offering up to seven figures’ worth of help in funding the center's investigative reporting work. "The demise of media is happening so quickly," he said, "that it does have the attention of funders... New funders have come to us -- in part because they see what's happening."

  • Will ‘Astroturf’ Groups Block Net Neutrality Reform?

    Megan Tady
    September 3, 2009

    Chris, McGreal, a reporter for Britain's Guardian newspaper, took to the road last month to report on how Americans living along Route 66--made famous in John Steinbeck's fictional Grapes of Wrath journey--are faring during the recession.

  • Vonage comes to iPhone... sort of

    Josh Levy
    September 2, 2009

    We got news this morning that Apple has approved an iPhone application for Vonage, the popular online phone (Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) service. This means that if you have a Vonage account for your landline at home, you'll be able to make calls with it through your iPhone. That's pretty cool. Sort of.

  • A Hard Look at Foundation-Funded Journalism

    Steve Katz
    September 2, 2009

    This post is part of our week-long forum on foundation-funded journalism. Join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET to chat live with these writers.

    If the events of the past couple of months are any indication, the future of foundation-funded, nonprofit journalism looks pretty good right now. Consider:

    • Sheri Fink’s 13,000-word investigation into the facts behind the deaths at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center put foundation-funded journalism (in this case, by the Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellowship in Health program and by the Sandler Family Foundation’s support for Fink’s employer, ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative reporting outfit) on the mainstream media map;

  • Live Chat Thurs. on Foundation-Funded Journalism

    Josh Stearns
    September 1, 2009

    As the idea of news and journalism has shifted from a marketplace commodity to a public good, there has been an increased focus on the role of foundations in supporting journalism projects and entire news organizations.

    All this week on the SaveTheNews.org blog, we’ll be examining the unique potential and the possible pitfalls of foundation funding. As we’ve laid out in our research, we believe that foundations will be important to the future of journalism.

Pages