Progress Without Profit: Nonprofit news is more necessary than ever
During this election cycle, heavy hitters and revenue giants such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are front and center for contentious debates, town halls and scathing primetime opinion segments. However, an underappreciated and underrecognized yet critical part of news (in and out of election years) comes from the nonprofit sector.
Without profit in mind, nonprofit journalism may care less about eye-catching headlines or quotable opinions and more about investigative reporting and the dissemination of nonpartisan information to the public. This difference allows for nonprofit news organizations to occupy a unique space in journalism and, in a time of polarization and misinformation, that is the exact reason we need it more than ever.
Well-known examples of nonprofit news organizations include National Public Radio, Pew Research Center, PBS NewsHour and ProPublica. Interest in nonprofit journalism rose following the 2008 recession and saw a resurgence after the 2016 presidential election. In fact, journalism philanthropy has quadrupled in the last decade, while advertising revenue for for-profit news has steadily declined.
As local news falters, it is vital that nonprofit organizations fill the gap left behind. Today, 350 nonprofit public television stations reach a monthly 120 million viewers with 65 million listeners tuning in to more than 900 public radios. Beyond live coverage, public media stations engage tens of millions through articles and downloads.
These news organizations find funding from listener donations and occasional government support, whereas a cable news organization like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News make a profit off advertising and subscriber fees from cable companies. Due to this, nonprofit journalism is solely meant to inform the public, without regard to a return on investment.
Through investigative journalism, nonprofit organizations have led the way in uncovering corruption and wrongdoing. In 2018, ProPublica obtained a recording of the separation of families inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility — leading to national outrage and a federal judicial order that parents and children be reunited. In direct contrast to the White House’s official statements, KPBS News revealed that this practice of family separation was not isolated to illegal border crossings but also happened at legal ports of entry.
Nonprofit news also reports on injustices occurring at a local level. The investigative journalism nonprofit Voice of San Diego uncovered sexual misconduct by teachers and other public school employees and has gone to court to obtain records that document this abuse. Due to their reporting, they exposed abusers who could previously discreetly resign or transfer with cash payouts.
The brand of many for-profit news organizations relies on large personalities who have an obvious political leaning shaping their opinion segments. Since nonprofit news organizations are funded by donors, they are held to a higher standard to remain as objective as possible separate from interest groups or political movements. Due to their 501(c)(3) designation, nonprofits cannot participate in activities to support or oppose political candidates. While most trusted for-profit news organizations abide by this anyways, nonprofit news has a legal obligation to do so. In for-profit news, for example, candidates may vie for endorsements or pay for political ads.
Nonprofit news institutions have also had a hand in rectifying the current homogeneity of journalism. Organizations such as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists and Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women have spearheaded the push for a more diverse, inclusive newsroom.
Of course, like most things in this world, nonprofit news is not without faults. A valid concern is that due to its reliance on donations, funders may influence what nonprofits report on. For example, a New York public TV station later returned a grant for a documentary series because its topic was deemed too closely connected to the donor. Moreover, the American Press Institute conducted a study that found over half of funders make media grants in areas where they do policy work and only 37% of nonprofit media has established guidelines about funding to combat this.
Although funder and nonprofit relations raise questions about conflicts of interest, nonprofit media remains extremely transparent, with 99% disclosing donors at some level and only 4% showing content to funders pre-publication. Although reliance on donors may lead to a connection between the funder and the topics covered, the vast majority of nonprofit media keeps funding and reporting separate to the best of their ability.
We are currently facing a misinformation dilemma. A study at MIT found that false news spreads six times faster on Twitter than real news. As access to misleading information increases, news organizations struggle to find the revenue needed to stay afloat to combat it. To fill the gap left behind by dying local news and the growing distrust in national news, nonprofit newsrooms’ core mission to offer objective, nonpartisan information without the goal of revenue is truly invaluable and necessary.
Sophie Roppe is a junior writing about nonprofit organizations and social justice. Her column, “Progress Without Profit,” runs every other Monday.