There is no recent data on the role of philanthropy in America’s rapidly changing journalism landscape.  

The 2015 American Press Institute's Ethical Terrain of Nonprofit Journalism study, overseen by NORC senior fellows Tom Rosenstiel and Marjorie Connelly, found that only 4 in 10 nonprofit news operations had written policies about disclosing funders and a third had guidelines about what money they will accept. Since then, the journalism landscape has changed considerably. There has been substantial growth in support for nonprofit news, increased funding to for-profit newsrooms, and a growing focus on communities of color. Questions remain about how newsrooms can address potential conflicts of interest and protect editorial independence and public trust. Many funders finance journalism in areas where they also do policy work, and some news organizations will accept money to do specific reporting suggested by a funder.

NORC surveyed journalism funders and leaders at for-profit and nonprofit news organizations.  

To chart the growth of the nonprofit journalism sector and understand new ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest between funders and the journalists they support, NORC has undertaken a new study. The study includes three separate online surveys:

• A survey of funders that support journalism and news media 
• A survey of leaders at nonprofit news and public radio stations
• A survey of leaders at for-profit news organizations, including legacy news organizations and online independent local outlets

We constructed a sample list for all three survey populations, and all organizations on the list were invited to participate. The precise size and scope of the three survey populations were difficult to determine, but we made efforts to have as comprehensive and representative a sample as possible. We sent email invitations containing survey links and followed up with multiple reminder emails.