Can the Right Combat Imbalance in Magazine Funding?

Generally and increasingly, public-affairs media outlets are unable to turn a profit and survive in the marketplace. Much of journalism has become a nonprofit venture, and outlets must seek private funding, including from philanthropic foundations. In the case of ideologically oriented magazines and journals in particular, there is a clear funding imbalance, and conservative givers should consider what to do about it.

In June, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University's School of Journalism co-published an interesting and comprehensive report, Funding the News: Foundations and Nonprofit Media. For the report, a team of four researchers studied 32,422 foundation grants to journalism and media-related nonprofit organizations between 2010 and 2015. They include awards to support “public” (as it's still somehow considered) television and radio, magazines, national and local news-gathering operations, and university-based projects. Collectively, the grants totaled approximately $1.8 billion.