Contact: press@localnewsforla.org
LOS ANGELES – Sept. 10, 2024 – A coalition of Los Angeles media and philanthropy leaders have joined forces in the wake of drastic losses in local journalism resources, raising $15 million to grow and support robust, independent local press in the region.
The L.A. Local News Initiative will launch a nonprofit organization that will operate and support local newsrooms in Los Angeles to provide coverage at neighborhood, regional, and state levels in service of L.A. communities. The initiative aims to increase the volume of coverage that enables residents to take effective action and navigate life on a local level, and that represents all L.A. communities in public discourse. It will also increase accountability journalism that keeps in check the billions of dollars in government and private spending affecting the Angelenos.
The new organization will be governed by a board representing local and national leaders in journalism, philanthropy, and business, including board chair Monica Lozano, former editor, publisher and CEO of La Opinión; Kevin Merida, former executive editor of the LA Times; Giselle Fernandez, Emmy-award winning anchor at Spectrum News; Gerun Riley, president of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation; and Michael Ouimette, chief investment officer of the American Journalism Project. It has launched public searches for its founding chief executive officer and executive editor—more information about these roles, and additional openings, will be on its website at http://localnewsforla.org/jobs.
“Without local journalism, we lose accountability, history, and a connection to our communities,” Lozano said. “The coalition of media organizations, philanthropies, and individuals who’ve come together to revitalize local news in Los Angeles are building toward a future where we have a resilient, sustainable, independent local press that holds decision makers to account, and equips all Angelenos to thrive and engage in their communities.”
“This effort comes at a critical moment. Local news in L.A. is in jeopardy and trust in traditional news media is at a low, giving rise to misinformation and an assault on the truth,” Fernandez said. “We’ve lost our common story—we no longer have a shared set of facts. So our coalition is standing up for the free, independent, unbiased press that is critical for democracy, and we’ll need broad local support to change this trajectory.”
The L.A. Local News Initiative was created following extensive research and community listening, done in partnership between local civic leaders and the American Journalism Project, which will also provide incubation support for the new organization. The research effort included input from nearly 900 Angelenos spanning 244 ZIP codes with a wide range of ages, genders, races, ethnicities, incomes, and professions. The research found that residents lack information focused on important local issues unique to their neighborhoods, and residents said they felt their perspectives weren’t represented in the media and that they wanted more information they could use to become more civically engaged, to stay safe, and to thrive. Angelenos also said they want more accountability reporting focused on their local municipalities.
Supporting funders represent a cross-section of individuals, local foundations, and national philanthropy, with anchor funding from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Spiegel Family Fund, and the American Journalism Project, as well as support from Annenberg Foundation, Weingart Foundation, California Community Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Jane and Ron Olson, and Leslie Weisberg and Jim Hyman.
A full list of supporters can be found at localnewsforla.org.
"This collaboration will serve Angelenos throughout our community, helping us feel more connected to the place we live and more empowered to engage meaningfully in civic and cultural life," said Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. “I’m excited to see the philanthropic community come together to invest in a thriving local press ecosystem.”
To start, the initiative will launch a local news organization that will operate Boyle Heights Beat, a bilingual community newsroom that has grown to become a trusted primary source of community news in Boyle Heights and East L.A., and has been integrated into the new organization. It will launch new, similar publications in additional communities beginning next year, and is making investments in LAist, part of member-supported multi-platform public media organization Southern California Public Radio, and CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy. LAist and CalMatters will report on L.A. region wide issues and California issues from a local perspective, respectively, and make their reporting available free for republishing so that more Angelenos can access the news and information from their preferred sources.
In addition, the initiative has formed collaborative partnerships with 20 media outlets and universities throughout L.A. which have already begun working together to leverage the strengths of each outlet, bringing more journalism to more people. Initial collaborations include one around election coverage and engagement, in which LAist, CalMatters, Boyle Heights Beat, and others are working together to make their voter resources accessible to more people through content sharing, joint events, and cross promotion of voter surveys. Such collaborations ensure residents at the local level are able to easily access voter resources at the regional and state levels, and that regional and state level publications are in closer touch with voters from more communities. A full list of partners can be found at localnewsforla.org.
“Los Angeles is too large and complex for all of our media outlets to work in silos,” Merida said. “We have an exciting opportunity here — to work together to create journalism that reflects and truly serves every corner of the region.”
This coalition is the latest in a national movement of philanthropy and local leaders taking action to support local news, demonstrating that nonprofit local news models can not only bolster local news, but reimagine the way it serves communities.
“Access to trustworthy local news is fundamental to understanding where you live and how to engage productively in your community," said Riley, President of The Broad Foundation. "The L.A. Local News Initiative is designed to complement our region’s existing news resources with collaborative neighborhood-level reporting. A robust and diverse local news sector that covers communities with integrity and candor will uplift neighborhoods, celebrate our differences and inform our city’s progress. The Broad Foundation is thrilled to support LALNI as part of its mission to build a brighter future for Los Angeles.”
“It can be easy from afar to think the decline of local news is a problem isolated to rural America, but millions of residents in Los Angeles lack the information they need to participate in their communities or to understand the decisions at the city, county, and state level that affect their lives,” said Sarabeth Berman, chief executive officer of the American Journalism Project. “This is an important initiative for Los Angeles and is poised to be a leader among a new generation of local news organizations that are rising to the moment.”
About the L.A. Local News Initiative
The Los Angeles Local News Initiative is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, fiscally sponsored by the American Journalism Project. With close to $15 million raised so far, it is on a mission to create a better Los Angeles for all Angelenos by meaningfully replenishing reporting resources in the region so that all L.A. communities have free access to the information they need to be more civically engaged, to thrive in their lives in L.A. and to hold decision makers accountable. The initiative receives support from a broad coalition of philanthropies, anchored by investments from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Spiegel Family Fund, and the American Journalism Project.
About the American Journalism Project
The American Journalism Project is a venture philanthropy dedicated to local news. We believe in civic journalism as a public good and are reimagining its future by building a model to finance and sustain the local news our democracy requires. We make grants to local nonprofit news organizations to build their revenue and business operations, partner with communities to launch new organizations, and mentor leaders as they grow and sustain their newsrooms. To learn more about the American Journalism Project, visit theajp.org.
More information in the factsheet here.
