With close to two dozen funders — including The Lenfest Institute for Journalism of which I am CEO — Press Forward is by far the largest coordinated philanthropic effort to support local news. It is especially encouraging that many of the organizations are new to supporting the journalism field. Several told me that this is their first foray into journalism funding; their capital is intended to help ensure a healthy American democracy secured by a strong, independent local press.
The launch of Press Forward is both worth celebrating and keeping in perspective. A half-billion dollars for local news sounds like a lot of money, but it is not — at least not relative to the scope of the problem or the powerful forces arrayed against independent journalism. If wisely deployed, however, the new funding will have a multiplier effect, attracting meaningful additional dollars to the cause of local news, and building solutions that scale.
