Philanthropies plan news outlet to cover Cleveland

A coalition of philanthropies has committed $5.8 million to launch a nonprofit newsroom to cover Cleveland, Ohio, the Associated Press reported. 

Seven donors have committed funding for the project, including the Knight Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation, which holds $2.8 billion in assets. 

The newsroom is expected to hire 25 new staffers by mid-2022 to produce “original, in-depth, non-partisan reporting,” that will be accessible digitally and through various content partnerships, according to the AP. 

The newsroom will also raise revenue through subscriptions, events, and other sources, with philanthropy continuing to play a major role in the years ahead.

The American Journalism Project (AJP), one of the funders in the initiative, has launched three other newsroom startups and supported 26 others across the nation, the AP reported. 

AJP CEO Sarabeth Berman told the newswire the wider Ohio Local News Initiative aims start newsrooms in other parts of the state, which will share back-office infrastructure. 

“The goal is to create a newsroom that is not just sort of saving local news but really reimagining how local news is created,” Berman said.

News staffs of traditional metro news organizations have dwindled in recent years due to advertising losses, with  residents losing access to reliable information about the communities they live in.