logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Public Radio and TV Stations Pick Their Nonprofit Partners

Anne Eigeman
April 17, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

April 15, 2019; Nieman Lab

About a year ago, WAMU, an NPR affiliate station based in Washington DC, acquired DCist.com, a popular news site that closed in 2017 which made local and even some national headlines. With an over ten-year track-record, starting as a volunteer-run initiative and then later as part of New York-based Gothamist and then DNA-info, DCist “routinely broke stories and punched above its weight” with stories nobody else was covering including an examination of a local pot dealer and coverage of local land disputes. As rationale for the acquisition, a related WAMU story cited Andi McDaniel, the station’s chief content officer, who explained, “The kind of community and neighborhood-level reporting that DCist does, and its beloved status locally, just aligned naturally with what our mission is.” Today, in its relaunched form, the publication boasts, “Rather than looking to owners in other cities, we now only answer to our own community,” and invites readers to consider donations and corporate sponsors to “connect with a young, informed audience.”

In a similar way, Nieman Lab reports that last month, public affairs news site NJ Spotlight joined with WNET/New York Public Media, which also operates broadcaster NJTV and its nightly local newscast NJTV News, in order “to create NJ-centric, multi-platform content and one of the largest and most comprehensive public affairs organizations in the state.”

John Mooney, NJ Spotlight’s founding editor and current CEO, explained to Nieman Lab, “I wouldn’t say we were hand to mouth, but we were pretty close every year where it’s a scramble to raise the funds to keep going or to grow.” He added, “There was a sense that by joining somebody else likeminded and like talent, that could bring some resources to us.” On WNET’s end, Bob Feinberg, general counsel, explained to Nieman Lab, “We really have hopes we will be able to iterate NJ Spotlight to our other operations in Long Island, New York City, and elsewhere.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NJ Spotlight, unlike DCist, began as a nonprofit and was housed in its first seven years at a foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey. According to Nieman Lab, with the partnership deal now final, Spotlight’s nine staff members including CEO Mooney will turn their focus to “meshing with the public media culture… and scoping out more in-house collaborations.” (Reflecting on the forthcoming changes, Mooney told Nieman Lab, “I haven’t been to the office in 12 years.”)

A strong incentive for the partnership from WNET’s side, according to Nieman Lab, was NJ Spotlight’s early success with funding models involving membership, which incorporate newsy levels such as “informed,” and wide-ranging special events that have highlighted topics ranging from end-of-life care to high school graduation rates. According to its website, NJ Spotlight has had success in getting sponsorship for these past events has been using Soundcloud to preserve the panel discussions for the future.

The nonprofit Texas Tribune, which NPQ has covered, has been a model for Mooney and others at Spotlight. Not only does the Texas Tribune have a robust membership program, which includes Texas descriptors “Lone Star” and “Big Tex” as giving levels, but according to Nieman Lab, 18 percent of the Tribune’s revenue came from events in 2018.

Mooney told Nieman Lab that looking ahead, he hopes to broaden a 2015 program on New Jersey cities that was also inspired by work done by the Tribune. “This is an opportunity to revisit what we are, and see if we’re serving these communities, and how we can do that better—especially underserved communities that haven’t trusted the media in a long time, long before Trump,” he said.

When DCist closed in 2017 and before it was revived up by WAMU, a former editor bemoaned, “Local news is what ties communities together. Without it, we’re basically a bunch of strangers to each other.” Two years later, his observation of and appreciation for the “very smart and entrepreneurial people out there trying to figure out how to sustain the local reporting that all communities need” still holds true.—Anne Eigeman

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Anne Eigeman

Anne Eigeman is a Washington, DC-based consultant focusing on fund development and communications. Her past work in the education field developing programming for schools and museums informs the current work she does with small education organizations building organizational capacity. A news lover, she enjoys reading and analyzing media coverage both about and beyond the nonprofit sector.

More about: Management and LeadershipNonprofit NewsPartnerships

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights Movements
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb Plutocracy
Alan Davis
Healing-Centered Leadership: A Path to Transformation
Shawn A. Ginwright
Into the Fire: Lessons from Movement Conflicts
Ingrid Benedict, Weyam Ghadbian and Jovida Ross
How Nonprofits Can Truly Advance Change
Hildy Gottlieb

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights...
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb...
Alan Davis

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.