Donors pledge half a billion dollars to boost the struggling local news industry

Published September 7, 2023 10:51 AM

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Media Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The MacArthur Foundation is leading a group of donors who have pledged $500 million to help the struggling local news industry. They hope to provide seed money for news outlets that can make up for those that have closed or been hollowed out over the past 20 years or boost companies teetering on the brink. Thousands of newspaper journalists have lost jobs, leaving a growing number of “news deserts,” or communities where there are no independent sources of news. The new Press Forward initiative is notable because organizations that haven’t traditionally funded journalism now see the need to address the issue.

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