On Wednesday, the Local Media Association announced the first 16 news organizations that will participate in a pilot project aimed at better understanding how philanthropy can support journalism. But none of the organizations are truly rural, and few have significant rural audiences; that matters because rural papers are more likely to be in financial dire straits and less likely to have the know-how or resources to pursue badly needed philanthropic funds.
The Center for Journalism Funding, operated by LMA with funding from the Google News Initiative, is a six-month lab with two goals: to drive at least $2.25 million in funding for journalism projects to the 16 news organizations combined, and to learn enough in the process to "publish an extensive industry playbook on funding journalism through philanthropy," says a news release.
Of the 16 news organizations chosen, the most rural by population is The Aspen Times in Colorado; Aspen's population is around 7,000, but it's a major resort area with a high median income. Nogales International is in the Tucson metropolitan area, and the Bozeman Chronicle is in a city that will surely exceed 50,000 population in this year's census and thus become a metro area. The list includes two larger news organizations with rural audience, The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. and NOLA.com.
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