The AP is setting up a sister organization seeking grants to support local and state news
The Associated Press says it is setting up a sister organization to solicit donor funding in support of local and state news, both at AP and elsewhere
NEW YORK — The Associated Press says it is setting up a sister organization that will seek to raise money in support of state and local news reporting, as the crisis in that sector shows little sign of abating.
The organization, which will have a board of directors independent of the AP, will solicit philanthropic spending to boost this news coverage, both within the AP and through outside organizations, the news outlet said Tuesday.
“We feel we have to lean in at this point, not pull back,” said Daisy Veerasingham, the AP's president and CEO. “But the supporting mechanism — the local newspaper market that used to support this — can't afford to do that anymore.”
Veerasingham said she's been encouraged by preliminary talks with some funders who have expressed concern about the state of local journalism.
Like other news organizations, the AP has turned to philanthropies for help in recent years, accepting grants totaling $60.9 million over the past seven years. It has used this money to expand coverage in certain subject areas, such as climate and religion.
The local news industry has collapsed over the past two decades, with the number of journalists working in newspapers dropping from 75,000 to 31,000 in 2022, according to Northwestern University. More than half of the nation's counties have no local news outlets or only one.
While the AP has similarly cut back on staffing in the 50 states, it refused on Tuesday to detail the extent.
The organization has recently announced collaborations to share news with several nonprofit news outlets, including the Texas Tribune,
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