The coalition is led by the MacArthur Foundation, which has ties to the Biden administration
Nearly 22 liberal foundations are planning to invest $500 million to bolster local media structures, with the aim of promoting coverage on issues like criminal justice reform and climate change leading up to the 2024 elections.
This initiative, called Press Forward, is made up of 22 left-leaning foundations and was coordinated by the MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation has previously provided substantial financial support to progressive journalism efforts with the goal of creating a “fair and inclusive future by educating, engaging, and mobilizing Americans through significant investments in fair and comprehensive news and narratives.”
This endeavor is likely to benefit Democratic candidates who champion these positions as a result of its mission. Additionally, the MacArthur Foundation has links to the Biden administration through the president’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, which aims to reduce gun violence, as indicated in a White House press release from the previous year.
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MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey expressed concern about the ongoing decline of newspapers in America, stating, “My sense is that we are losing a newspaper in America every week, and that’s a dangerous thing for American democracy.” He emphasized that a healthy democracy relies on robust local news. When credible news sources diminish, it creates space for misinformation and disinformation to thrive.
As per The Washington Post, the coalition intends to inject $100 million annually into this initiative over the next five years, characterizing it as a “lifeline” for local news.
The Post did not specify the type of journalism that this funding will support. In contrast, the MacArthur Foundation has provided more information in a press release, indicating that the goal is to establish a platform for advancing left-wing causes and issues.
“We have an opportunity to back the reimagining, revitalization, and swift development of local news,” stated Palfrey in the release. “We are ready to support the most robust ideas, sow the seeds for new ones, forge powerful networks, and invest in individuals, organizations, and networks with substantial resources.”
John Palfrey, President of the MacArthur Foundation, noted that the philanthropic sector acknowledges the imperative of fortifying American democracy. It recognizes that progress on various other issues, ranging from education and healthcare to criminal justice reform and climate change, is contingent upon the public’s access to accurate information.
While the MacArthur Foundation is channeling its $500 million initiative toward driving causes like criminal justice reform, it is concurrently providing funding for distinct advocacy efforts on the same issue. One example is the foundation’s support for the “Safety and Justice Challenge,” which invests in local solutions centered on equity in public safety, including diversion and bail reform, with the goal of reducing the jail population by 50 percent.
According to information available on the initiative’s website, the MacArthur Foundation team plays a pivotal role in providing strategic direction and messaging, making final determinations on funding, and exercising authority in grant-making. Their 2021 tax records reveal that they distributed approximately 80 grants for the campaign, with a significant portion directed toward various counties. Some of these grants found their way to organizations like the Vera Institute of Justice, which, in addition to its efforts to reduce jail populations, also receives substantial government contracts from the Biden administration for assisting undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings.
The MacArthur Foundation boasts an endowment exceeding $7 billion and has already awarded nearly 1700 grants as part of its journalism program, as indicated on its website. Recent examples of “grantees in the news” include stories related to reparations and Juneteenth.
It’s worth noting that some of the MacArthur Foundation’s journalism grantees, such as the Society of Environmental Journalists, appear to aim at countering “disinformation” by apparently excluding advocates of oil and natural gas from news stories, as reported by the Western Energy Alliance, an organization that promotes the oil and natural gas industry.
The Western Energy Alliance has pointed to a webinar they held earlier this year, during which a participant raised the question of including dissenting voices from “lobbyists and these pressure groups.” A climate reporter from the Los Angeles Times responded, “I definitely don’t include climate denial voices in my stories.”
Scott Walter, President of the Capital Research Center, expressed the view that billionaire foundations should recognize that the decline of local news outlets is largely due to their alignment with elite city-based outlets, which are often at odds with the views of ordinary Americans but align with left-wing foundations like MacArthur. He remarked that these well-endowed funders seem more interested in creating numerous clones of The New York Times than supporting genuine local news. Describing this as “democracy” is, according to Walter, a misrepresentation.
It’s worth noting that the MacArthur Foundation did not provide a response to inquiries from Fox News Digital regarding their half-billion-dollar journalism campaign.