Local News in America Is Dying. Charity Might Save It

Some 200 nonprofit websites are hustling to keep state and city governments honest. Many are succeeding.

Bloomberg
Bloomberg

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A distribution box for the Village Voice in Manhattan’s East Village in 2017. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

By Gerry Smith

The City, a website covering local news in America’s biggest metropolis, debuted this month with a bank account some of its nonprofit peers could only dream of.

Backed by almost $10 million from philanthropies and individuals, the New York-based news organization has more than double the cash that nonprofit-pioneer the Texas Tribune had when it started 10 years ago.

Still, the City’s publisher is taking nothing for granted. A former investment banker, John Wotowicz is constantly looking for additional sources of funding. He’s planning to spend about $4 million this year, much of it on his 18 reporters. If the donations stop flowing, the City will run out of money by 2022.

“We have 2 ½ years of runway in the bank,” Wotowicz said recently in the City’s Manhattan newsroom. “That’s not 25 years of funding. Fundraising will continue to be a terrifically important part of our business.”

Such is life in nonprofit news — and perhaps a sign of things to come for American journalism in general — where the future is never guaranteed and the hustle for…

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