Venture Philanthropy For Local News Might Not Be As Scary As It Sounds

Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2018 12:13 pm

Christine Schmidt | Nieman Lab

An incomplete list of attempts to finance local news:

For-profit newspapers and TV stations siphoning advertising dollars

Billionaire benefactors who don’t always play nice and/or play music

Started-from-scratch scraggly independent outlets started by bought-out or laid-off reporters

A chain-based model scattered across towns with appealing demographics

Organizations drawing support solely from foundations and crossing fingers that it lasts

Chasing virality (though that goes for pretty much the entire news industry)

Venture philanthropy?

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Venture Philanthropy For Local News Might Not Be As Scary As It Sounds

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