NEW YORK — — The MacArthur Foundation is leading a group of donors that have pledged $500 million to
“This is hugely important, both practically and symbolically,” said Tim Franklin, director of the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University's Medill journalism school. 8,891 in 2005 to 6,377 last year, according to a Northwestern study. Papers are continuing to close at a rate of two a week, Franklin said. Many that survive, particularly in larger markets, are shells of themselves. The estimated 75,000 journalists who worked at newspapers in 2005 was down to 31,000 last year.
While philanthropic funding has helped, experts say it's important that new outlets can survive after grant money runs out. One model in independent journalism, the Texas Tribune, recently had theSome of the new funding efforts are designed specifically for that goal. They will support efforts, for example, to provide legal services, publishing tools and ways to enhance revenue that can be shared by several different outlets so there's less duplication in spending for startups.
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