Nonprofit journalism
[1][2][3][4][5] Public service media is a related term that has referred to organizations that receive government funding, starting with radio in the 1920s,[6] and projects like Wikipedia.
[19][20] Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg in their 2023 book about online media literacy, caution that nonprofit status (and .org domains) should not be used as evidence that the information presented is reliable.
[24] Between May 2010 and September 2011, the Pew Research Center's Journalism Project studied 46 national-level nonprofit investigative organizations created after 2005, examining their transparency, political bias, number of revenue streams and productivity.
For example, while the liberal-oriented American Independent News Network sites favored discussions of organized labor and the environment, the more conservative Watchdog.org, meanwhile, focused on government policies and their inefficiency and waste.
[25] David Westphal in 2009 expressed support for foundation-funded journalism, but worried that many of the news organizations report based on their funder’s interest areas.
[26] Moreover, Robert Arnove and Nadine Pinede (2007) undertook a study on the "big three" US-based foundations – Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie – and revealed that they play the role of unofficial planning agencies, have a very US-centric model, and utilize a very "elitist, technocratic approach to social change.
"[27] Likewise, Sean Stannard-Stockton, claims that in addition to maintaining the status quo, many foundations use “hard power” to “shape events by providing or withdrawing grants” thereby creating a dependence by nonprofit organizations.
[27] Bob Feldman (2007) added that the processes used to gain such funding are modeled in “safe, legalistic, bureaucratic activities and mild reformism” and creates a “climate of secrecy” as the foundations domesticate their agendas.
[30] For example, ProPublica won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize in collaboration with The New York Times for an investigative report on one hospital’s emergency response to treating flood victims of Hurricane Katrina.
[34] ProPublica’s Richard Tofel argues that investigative reporting will never become obsolete, as it increasingly competes with declining mainstream media that focuses on daily politics.
[36] Commercial media has faced a huge financial collapse and has therefore been forced to lay off many reporters and the reduce the size or completely shut down its foreign bureaus.
[2] A PEW research study in 2010 reveals that while demand for substantive news is high, the commercial press has not been fulfilling its social responsibility role, especially in terms of investigative journalism.
[17][25] According to a study, many reporters felt the nonprofit funding model gives them greater freedom to choose stories based on merit and public impact rather than popularity.
[37] Unlike mainstream media, which relies more on business strategies, nonprofit news outlets may not need to show their philanthropic funders an immediate return on investment.
[39] Many nonprofit centers receive their revenue through a total or partial combination of the following strategies: membership donations, corporate sponsorships or advertising, charging other media for content, providing services such as analyzing and posting date, training students and journalists and creating an endowment.
