{"id":291209,"date":"2021-05-27T10:06:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T14:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightfoundation.org\/?post_type=article&p=291209"},"modified":"2021-06-08T04:20:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T08:20:31","slug":"a-guide-to-resources-for-local-news-publishers-of-color","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/knightfoundation.org\/articles\/a-guide-to-resources-for-local-news-publishers-of-color\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Resources for Local News Publishers of Color"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Grants, training, associations and more that can help legacy and new publishers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Communities of color need to have strong, sustainable local news outlets to cover them in a fair, equitable way. While Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native newspapers, TV and radio have a long history, the shift of ad revenue to tech platforms has hit many of them hard \u2013 with the added difficulties of pandemic-induced losses in ads and events. New digital publications are springing up in response to community needs, but often without the resources available in wealthy, white communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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If the so-called mainstream local news publishers aren\u2019t doing the job covering these communities of color, how can funders and journalism associations better support the publishers who have been doing the job for decades and the new startups that are starting to gain a foothold? The racial reckoning in media has led media foundations, associations and training programs to reset their priorities to put publishers of color in the spotlight. That\u2019s a welcome change, even if the growing number of initiatives will only address a small portion of publishers across the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Ron Burke is focused on national sales and business development for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, otherwise known as the Black Press, and is the trade association for Black-owned community newspapers. He agreed that funding has increased somewhat for Black press in the past year, but it\u2019s still not enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cThe issue is that it\u2019s not touching all of our members, just a few of them,\u201d Burke told me. \u201cWe have 230 members, and I would say through all these funding opportunities, there\u2019s maybe 15 or 20 of our members that have been able to take advantage of those\u2026 It\u2019s not a criticism or a bad thing. But what about the ones that aren\u2019t included? How can we get everyone included?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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I talked with a mix of legacy and digital publishers of color and associations to try to ascertain which resources are really moving the needle for publishers, helping to support them and their communities. And I also wondered what\u2019s missing, where are the gaps? This Guide is meant to help as a starting point for publishers to explore some of the better resources in the hope that there will be more to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Grants & Funding<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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During the pandemic, many journalism funders have stepped up to support more local news outlets in general, and more publishers of color in particular. Money can come from national foundations, local and family foundations; large donors and philanthropists; and even local organizations that sub-grant money from larger foundations. There are three categories for these funders: <\/p>\n<\/div>

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1) New grant programs tailored to publishers of color;
2) existing foundations changing their priorities; and
3) groups of local funders banding together to support news organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Foundations can offer support beyond grants. As Alvaro Gurdi\u00e1n, vice president of operations at La Noticia in Charlotte, N.C., told me, \u201cNot everything is direct dollars. Sometimes it\u2019s a connection. A foundation connected me to this bank because they\u2019re philanthropic. That\u2019s valuable, and it can be repeated in a pattern. Getting an intro is important.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Here are some grant and funding programs making a difference for publishers of color:<\/p>\n<\/div>

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