The New Journalism Ecosystem: 60 Nonprofits, $80 Million Dollars. Now What?

The Investigative Reporting Workshop chose 60 nonprofit reporting outlets to study, in a report released today. These 60 are found in 21 states, employ 658 people, and have a combined budget of just under $80 million dollars.

Will these save journalism?

The reporting at places like Propublica, Texas Tribune, and Chicago Reporter is very good: 28, or just under half, have won awards for their work. Two-thirds of the 658 employees IRW studied had traditional journalism backgrounds.

Yet the money is still an issue:

At least eight nonprofits chronicled here and possibly more have annual operating budgets of less than $100,000, which means that several experienced journalists are working for little or no pay, volunteering their knowledge and time in the valiant, heroic attempt to create a new institution out of thin air.

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