Group investing $300M in local news

NEW YORK — The Knight Foundation says it will invest $300 million in local journalism over the next five years, seeding several programs designed to kick-start an industry decimated by layoffs and newspaper closures over the last 15 years.

The plans, announced Tuesday, will double the amount of spending the foundation started by newspaper publisher brothers John S. and James L. Knight has been making in this area over the past few years.

Among the beneficiaries are the American Journalism Project, which provides grants to local nonprofit news organizations; the investigative site ProPublica; Report for America, a service organization that pays for the hiring of local journalists; and PBS’ “Frontline,” the documentary program that’s making its first foray into local news.

“What this initiative aims to do is really help build a future for local news,” said Jennifer Preston, vice president for journalism at the Knight Foundation.

A spate of philanthropic efforts, including a $300 million initiative announced by Facebook last month, has drawn attention to how declining profits and readership has bled local journalism. Nearly 1,800 weekly and daily newspapers have closed since 2004, and the number of working journalists has been cut in half during that period, according to a University of North Carolina study.

Until 2005, Knight had focused much of its journalism philanthropy on education. But it began focusing on helping news organizations weather the technological changes to the industry and, since 2015, has funded more local projects.

They include supporting an effort by 17 news organizations in the Philadelphia area for a report on the impact of mass incarceration.