POYNTER REPORT

Download the entire foundations issue as a PDF file (640k)

This single-theme issue of this Poynter Report, funded solely by Poynter, examines the role some nonprofits and foundations play behind the news scene. The idea for taking a closer look at foundation funding and its impact on the news sprang from a conversation between Andrew Barnes and Rick Edmonds nearly three years ago.

Barnes is chairman of Times Publishing Company and The Poynter Institute. Edmonds has been a journalist with The Philadelphia Inquirer and the St. Petersburg Times. Now he is a consultant, free-lance editor, and writer.

As a result of that conversation, Edmonds began looking at some of the major foundations involved with the news media. He wanted to know what prompted them to put money into such alliances and what that meant for the news organizations that accepted their money.Download the entire foundations issue as a PDF file (640k)

One of the important questions of such an arrangement is what potential conflicts of interest may arise when news is funded by organizations outside the news operation.

To put it simply, who sets the news agenda when foundations such as Pew, Kaiser, or others pay the bill?

The topic, which was researched, reported, and written by Edmonds, makes clearer why some nonprofits sought a more collaborative connection with the news media. He found their influence–whether obvious or subtle–more significant than many in the news media or the public may realize.

—Aly Colon