“What this initiative aims to do is really help build a future for local news,” said Jennifer Preston, vice-president for journalism at the Knight Foundation. A spate of philanthropic efforts, including a $300 million initiative announced by Facebook last month, has drawn attention to how declining profits and readership has bled local journalism. Preston said Knight hoped its commitment would spur other funding sources to join in support of local news. Their idea is to raise money to start as many similar local journalism projects as they can. Recovering what has been lost by the thousands of journalists no longer on the beat requires fundamental changes in the business of local journalism.

Source: National Post February 19, 2019 14:15 UTC