Philanthropic foundations are taking unprecedented steps to address the crisis in journalism and “serve as a firewall against the disappearance of critical news and information,” according to a new report from the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at USC Annenberg.
The report, “Philanthropic Foundations: Growing Funders of the News” is authored by executive in residence David Westphal, a CCLP senior fellow and former Washington editor for McClatchy Newspapers.
Leaders from philanthropic foundations, journalism, education and non-profit organizations were interviewed for the report, which follows up on a major meeting convened in 2008 by Geoffrey Cowan, CCLP director and USC university professor; Alex Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; and Orville Schell, former dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a CCLP senior fellow.
“When we had the meeting last year, we saw a need,” Cowan said. “But now we’re in a state of desperation. The collapse of the traditional economic model has increased both the need for nonprofit journalism, and also the receptivity toward it.”
“I think it’s safe to say there’s a growing understanding you can’t run a democracy without a free flow of information,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who attended the 2008 meeting and was interviewed for the report. He cites growing interest of community foundations in supporting journalism as an important development.
“We’re extremely excited about the possibilities here,” he said. “Community foundations have billions and billions at their disposal. We think more and more of them are going to find that information has become one of their community’s core needs.”
Westphal will present findings from this report, along with results from a new Carnegie Corporation-sponsored study on the role of government in supporting news and information, at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Boston in August.
About the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy
Based at the USC Annenberg School, the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy conducts research and organizes courses, programs, seminars and symposia for scholars, students, policymakers and working professionals to prepare future leaders in journalism, communication and other related fields. CCLP focuses its activities in two areas: The Role of Media in a Democracy and Communication Leadership. Current projects include Public Policy and the Future of News; New Models for News; The Constitution and the Press; Media and Political Discourse; Children’s Media and Ethics; Women and Communication Leadership; and Photographic Empowerment.
