Knight Foundation CEO: to preserve democracy, philanthropy must move at speed of news | Opinion

In 2016, the United States lost its status as a “full democracy” and entered the category of “flawed democracy,” according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index. We’re now the world’s 25th most democratic nation, according to that index.

It’s clear that the collapse of local news in recent decades is enabling, if not encouraging, this democratic erosion. Local news outlets provide the common fact set upon which communities can make the decisions for self-government. They provide the glue that binds communities together. They cover school board meetings, monitor city council spending and that local developments are up to code.

Local newspapers are closing at a rate of 2.5 per week, according to the Local News Initiative at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Over the last two decades, nearly 3,000 U.S. newspapers closed, most of them local, and 43,000 newspaper reporting jobs disappeared.

Donors concerned not only about the business of journalism but also about the health of our democracy have taken notice, and they’re investing to create solutions. This week, the 17th annual Knight Media Forum begins in Miami, where the Knight Foundation is headquartered and where I was born and raised. We’re bringing hundreds of local and regional foundation leaders and philanthropists together to support new kinds of news organizations designed for today’s digital world. Together, we’re investing hundreds of millions to support these new ventures.

We know that change needs to happen quickly. To preserve our democracy, philanthropy must learn to move at the speed of news.

For me, it’s personal. For generations, this city has been a beacon of hope for so many who left countries where governments were crumbling. My own family came here fleeing oppression and authoritarianism — and expected to go back home when democracy was restored. But a lesson of the 20th century is that democracy is not so easy to put back together once it’s been torn down. Two generations later, we’re still here — proudly American and still fiercely committed to democracy.

In the crucial effort to reinvent the journalism industry that supports our democracy, we’ve reached the point at which speed matters. And funding matters.

Last fall, in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation and 20 other philanthropies, Knight announced Press Forward, an investment of a half-billion dollars — and counting — to strengthen democracy by supporting local news. Knight committed $150 million, on top of the $150 million we will spend over the same time. We doubled our investment to build sustainable models for independent journalism.

It’s a lot of money — but it’s not nearly enough. At the forum, we’ll be asking hundreds of donors to help multiply that investment. The problem we’re facing is simply that big.

These funders are leaders of their communities. They are deeply invested in ensuring that their communities thrive. And they are eager to help us in this critical work.

This investment will build a runway for nascent local news organizations to find sustainable models. We will help publishers find the necessary levers for success. Because we know that philanthropy is not a business model — it’s a revenue stream. That nonprofit is not a business model — it’s a tax status. And that billionaire ownership is not a business model, either. No matter how a news organization is structured, or who owns it, it still requires multiple and diverse revenue streams, which provide stability and allow for independence and the trust that comes with it. It still requires revenue that outpaces expenses. It needs an audience.

So, thank you, readers of the Miami Herald, for being part of that audience. As much as the future of local journalism — and even the future of our democracy — requires that funders support innovations in news, it also requires an engaged, motivated and paying audience.

Democracy requires work. Democracy requires debate. Democracy requires reliable, quality information. Together, we can give local news organizations the support they need to deliver that information. And by doing that we can help to strengthen American democracy.

Maribel Pérez Wadsworth is the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.