A group of private foundations in South Florida are banding together to help save local journalism and are asking the region’s residents to tell them what kind of information they need from local media.
The foundations announced Monday the creation of Press Forward South Florida, “a new initiative to ensure residents have the information they need to make decisions about their lives — no matter where they live or what language they speak at home.”
With an initial grant of $3 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Press Florida South Florida said it will use the funds to help raise money for local news initiatives. It is one of nearly three dozen local chapters nationwide, where local leaders are raising funds and gathering support to strengthen their community through local news.
“We believe local news encourages our community to ask more challenging questions, dig deeper into critical issues, and own our solutions,” said Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation, in a statement.
“We are a region of newcomers — so many of us are born in another city, country, or culture. Local news can help us connect across differences, build a better future, and feel at home here in South Florida," she added.
Others partnering with the Miami Foundation include the Community Foundation of Broward, the Coral Gables Community Foundation and the Key Biscayne Community Foundation.
“Local news fuels understanding, builds a sense of community and – when necessary — empowers residents to take action for the community we love,” said Community Foundation of Broward President/CEO Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson. “As our local news outlets suffer from the national trend of diminished staffing and limited resources, support for Press Forward South Florida will strengthen and grow access to the quality local news that is essential to thriving communities.”
Since 2005, more than 3,200 print newspapers have disappeared, according to the latest report by the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University, which began tracking the data in 2018. It found that newspapers are vanishing at a rate of more than two per week; last year alone, 130 newspapers shut their doors.
Press Forward South Florida organizers said they will spend the next several months “assessing the existing media ecosystem and South Floridians’ news and information needs.”
The foundations are partnering with the American Journalism Project and Florida International University’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center and School of Journalism and Media to get responses from a survey of 1,000 residents across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties.
The survey can be found at https://bit.ly/localnewssurvey.
The foundations said they expect to distribute grants later this year.
“Press Forward is not just about providing financial aid to local newsrooms — it’s about fostering a deep and enduring commitment from the South Florida community to support local journalism,” said Jim Brady, Vice President for Journalism at Knight Foundation, in a statement. “We hope Press Forward South Florida will lay the groundwork for greater community investment in the future of news and information in the region.”
