Knight Media Forum: The Hidden Asset in Local Journalism

by Feather Houstoun, Senior Advisor for Journalism and Public Media, Wyncote Foundation

The Knight Foundation’s annual Media Forum was held in late February — just before the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decisions to cancel most public gatherings. For the first time, the 2020 convening featured a glimpse of the significant role that public media newsrooms can play in rebuilding the local news ecosystems so devastated by the collapse of the newspaper business model.

I was joined in a panel by Nancy Barnes, NPR’s senior vice president for news and editorial director; Joy Lin, vice president, journalism, for CPB; and Michael Isip, president and CEO of KQED San Francisco, who each underscored trends supporting journalism that are largely unseen.

Since joining the philanthropy world about 15 years ago, I’ve worked with five different foundations that have funded journalism. This work has provided a view across the journalism space: digital startups, legacy for-profit print and digital, and public media, both nationally and locally focused. They are all serving important roles in compensating for the accelerating hemorrhage in local legacy newsrooms.

Seen as a list of grantees, the media outlets may seem unconnected, but they all fit into a broader strategic assumption that if there is a future for strong local journalism, it’s likely to look like the vision of Knight Foundation’s Jennifer Preston’s — that is, a networked solution.

What we mean by “networked” is that content within a local news area is generated and, more importantly, shared or distributed, across media that reflects the diversity of the community. Even where legacy print newsrooms survive as a “keystone” species in the ecosystem, the vitality of community information will depend on the health of all.

Our vantage point has given the Wyncote Foundation a bird’s-eye view of the challenges and strengths of all the components of the ecosystem in local journalism.

The flagship NPR news service retains its place of respect at the national level. What has been hiding in plain sight is the surge in growth of local public media newsrooms.

Between 2011 and 2018, the number of full-time local journalists in public media grew by over 30 percent. The total part- and full-time journalists in radio and TV now total over 4,500, many in newsrooms that are the second-largest in their communities.

What’s especially cool about this is that the stations are using their powerful membership and development operations to raise local money on their local brand and using it for newsroom expansion.

Mark Fuerst, who works for Wyncote on this and other topics, has interviewed a cross section of news-oriented public radio station general managers and begun to size that investment in journalism. That cohort was devoting between 30 and 50 percent of their programming budget to local journalism. If that pattern holds, the top 125 news-oriented stations are spending over $175 million annually on local coverage.

Part of that growth has included acquisitions of local digital startups that then enjoy the muscular membership, donor, and sponsorship infrastructure that public media has developed over decades. This revenue growth has been supported and encouraged by both NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

But while welcoming this important trend, we should recognize that public media newsrooms are also grappling with challenges, some unique to public media, but most facing many news providers:

1. Collaboration within news ecosystems is in early stage. Strong habits of re-publishing, co-creation of content, and partnerships have yet to develop.

2. Much of public media has been slow to diversify staff to represent a range of racial/ethnic backgrounds and lived experiences, and to seek voices that signal inclusivity.

3. Engagement with communities and audiences, including diverse ones, are not always seen as the public media audience.

4. Digital adaptation, not just streaming of broadcast material but text-based presence, has not been a priority for many stations. Smart text-based content can amplify reach through social media and allow more efficient news production.

5. Growing news presence requires strong governance, building boards that live and breathe editorial independence and understand the importance of donor transparency.

For those involved in local news, it was heartening that Knight chose to highlight the robust contributions of public media to the local news conversation. The full agenda and video recordings of selected sessions for the 2020 Knight Media Forum are archived on Knight’s website.

Public media stations are not immune to the disruptive financial pressures of the pandemic. But most evidence suggests that news will remain a priority, and that adaptations to meet the COVID-19 audience and information challenges will accelerate the changes needed to place public media squarely in the center of local news ecosystems.

Feather Houstoun is Senior Advisor for Journalism and Public Media for the Philadelphia-based Wyncote Foundation, and a board member of the newly-formed Independence Public Media Foundation.