The Listening Post Collective has been fortunate enough to receive funding from Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program the past few years, which means we’ve been particularly lucky to have DFs Angelica Das as a supporter and thought partner as we team up to try and make journalism more equitable. With Press Forward’s big bet on local media in mind, we invited Angelica to share some thoughts on building and sustaining equitable media ecosystems around the US.

Your job is to “grow and sustain journalism that more fully reflects communities, corrects persistent inequities, and responds to help individuals participate meaningfully in democracy.” Can you give us an example of a project you’ve supported through your work that you feel like reflects your mandate best? 

URL Media launched in 2021 as a network of eight Black and Brown media partners harnessing their power together to generate and share revenue and amplify content. Democracy Fund made our first grant to them that year, and they have since grown to 22 partners with a collective audience of 27 million users. This growth is tremendous, but it’s possible because they are successfully demonstrating their viability to advertisers. For decades and longer, advertisers have not recognized the value of placements in Black and Brown media, and URL Media is shifting the narrative. This means opening up revenue streams for media organizations led by and serving people of color who at their core reflect community needs. They are critical sources of civic news and information for communities who are inadequately served by traditional media. URL Media is just one example of the many ways we are supporting this kind of work through our grantmaking. 

From your funders perspective, what have you learned over the past few years about how much money it actually takes to “grow and sustain” a more equitable media outlet or community information ecosystem?

Growth and sustainability mean different things to different people in different places. A more equitable media ecosystem would mean that BIPOC and diverse led and serving media can achieve sustainability on their own terms. For some, this might mean scaling up, and for others it may be increasing wages without expanding in size. For still others, growth could mean wellness and healing over time. Each of these requires different financial priorities and models. In our funding, we ask how our grantees define their own financial and operational resilience, and do what we can to contribute to it. By limiting restrictions in our funding, grantees then have the flexibility to pursue those goals. 

It’s rare and unlikely that any one foundation is going to meet all of these needs for publishers, so as a journalism system we need to continue working together to diversify revenue streams. But philanthropy will continue to be needed for the foreseeable future to ensure that news as a public service continues to exist. This is part of the impetus behind initiatives like Press Forward, who are trying to call attention to the critical role of funders in boosting the system in this moment. 

Traditionally there’s been a lot of interest from the funder side on media innovation, namely tech solutions that can solve the larger problems of the journalism universe. Do you think that’s been money well spent? And, what do you think gets missed when that’s the funding focus? 

Tech needs are real, but I believe they need to be supported as identified by the publishers or grantees themselves. Tech and innovation also get muddled in this conversation. Innovation may involve a new tech solution, it may mean making use of existing technology, or it may mean employing something creative to reach new audiences. If tech solutions are critical to the operations and programming of grantees, then I absolutely believe that’s money well spent. But it’s essential that we are first asking grantees what their priorities are and responding accordingly. In my experience many grantees know what they need and want, and general operating funds give them the flexibility to meet shifting priorities over time. 

A lot of what we hear from the BIPOC and immigrant led civic media newsrooms we help launch and support re: funding is, they need general operating support, but too often the money they are after is tied to needs and metrics set by funders, and can pull them away from the things that might make their operations more sustainable. How do you balance grantee needs and funder goals? 

At Democracy Fund, we offer general operating support whenever possible. We also offer a range of reporting options including existing material, verbal reports, and traditional written narratives. We make those decisions in conversation with grantees during the application process and remain flexible to change requirements over time. We are trying to shift the burden away from grantees by reducing the number of requests and requirements. As foundation staff, we still have a deep commitment to learning and a responsibility to report about our work to our leaders, and we take on that education ourselves when possible such as through reading existing material, commissioning research, attending events, and staying in close relationship with our grantees. It’s not a perfect system, but we believe and hope that by maintaining those trusted relationships our grantees can share when there are strains and we can find solutions together. We also know that not every foundation has enough staff to take on the same degree of learning internally, and we are committed to peer learning and sharing. 

The Press Forward initiative was announced this past summer with a goal of uniting 20+ foundations to raise $500 million dollars to support local media. Your organization is part of this effort. What excites you about it? And what do you think might need some additional thinking as this initiative launches and evolves? 

The timing of Press Forward is particularly exciting for me. We are entering another presidential election year, which means journalism is going to be especially challenged and strained when it comes to reporting on democratic norms. Press Forward is emerging at a time when the system needs to be galvanized and resourced, and this is a chance to rally philanthropy to respond to the moment. It’s a call to action for funders to recognize that local news is critical to upholding our democratic system. Philanthropy has the opportunity to build the long-term support to help sustain it, and specifically to drive resources to BIPOC and diverse-led media who have been consistently and grossly under-resourced. I believe we are at a moment of both crisis and also enormous potential for journalism as a system.

It will be challenging to respond to this urgency, while also taking a longer strategic view. Much of the infrastructure for this work is still being formed. The planned pooled fund does not yet exist, and we still have a lot of groundwork to lay for funding priorities. Some of this will be joint, and much of it will be working independently but within a shared set of priorities and values. This is a crash course in funder collaboration and alignment, and it’s inevitable that there will be some hiccups along the way. But if we are driving resources to the field at a time when it’s most needed, that’s a net good. 

You mentioned in a talk to the Media Impact Funders the funding and collaboration efforts around media in the lead up to the 2020 election felt very reactive. With the 2024 presidential election in mind…what strategies or frameworks are you now considering or have implemented to transition towards more proactive, strategic philanthropy in the face of ongoing or future crises?

There are a few ways we can interrupt the boom and bust cycle. In the immediate term, if funders have resources to act on, it’s essential to make those grants as early as possible and offer general operating support. If funders do not have additional resources available, they can consider making reporting requirements more flexible and extending grant periods. Offering flexibility both builds trust and gives grantees the ability to pivot or make tradeoffs in the midst of crisis. Some funders were able to do this during the pandemic, proving that there is a pathway. In the long term, we need to drive resources to BIPOC and diverse-led and serving local media in a way that builds longevity. What we heard repeatedly from grantees is that in order to be prepared for a presidential election, publishers need strong operations year round and the ability to sustain full time political reporters who are representative of and embedded in the communities they serve. My hope is that Press Forward will help to build this foundation and we are committed to it in our core journalism strategies at Democracy Fund.

You spoke about the targeted disinformation campaigns and divisive narratives affecting communities of color. What are the most effective ways funders can support journalism or community initiatives to counteract these campaigns?

We know that misinformation and disinformation campaigns deliberately target communities of color and seek to instill division, confusion, demonization, and apathy. While an approach of combating misinformation can be helpful, what I’ve heard repeatedly from our grantees is that misinformation thrives when there is nothing else to fill the gaps. We absolutely need pressure and regulation that stems the flood of mass distribution on platforms and unfettered technology. But first we need to fortify trusted news and information. BIPOC media is the key. These are outlets that are community-first and hold that trust. We need to build the strength of their operations to do their work as trusted messengers.