Knight Makes $4.8M Philanthropic Investment in Local News

By Anne Eigeman
The Nonprofit Quarterly
nonprofitquarterly.org

[Recently], the news industry made some news itself when the nonprofit Poynter Institute released information about an $881,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to strengthen local journalism with a focus on digital and cultural transformation. Charged with building on conclusions from an initial program last year, the Poynter Local News Innovation Program will be open to up to 20 news organizations “of varying sizes, geographies and ownership models” per year over three years with content and training provided through online platforms and in-person workshops and seminars. The Poynter program is part of a larger collaboration between Knight and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism called the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative. (We covered the foundation of the Lenfest Institute, formerly the Institute for Journalism in New Media, in a series of articles last year, including one with a specific reference to Knight.)

In a statement, Jennifer Preston, Knight Foundation vice president for journalism, said the program, “recognizes the importance of a concerted, strategic effort to address the challenges that local news organizations are facing in the digital age.” She added, “This next phase will help to create a model for the digital transformation of news organizations that can be shared across the country, helping local journalists better connect with their audiences and develop new innovations in storytelling.”

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