Some big news from Ken Doctor, who posted a story about a plan by public media to invest heavily in local news in four markets. How heavily? To the tune of $5 million and 100 multiplatform journalists per city.
Four public radio stations — in New York, LA, Chicago and the Twin Cities — are on board, according to Bill Kling, president and CEO of the American Public Media Group. Kling says he hope he can nail down financing by next June. If it works, other cities could follow.
In my book, this is an aspiration project. The realities of sustainable financing for journalism in today’s world are, well, let’s just say challenging. But if Kling can pull it off, an infusion of that many multiplatform journalists in a single market will certainly impact the local and hyperlocal news ecosystem, especially newspapers and non-profit news startups.
Certainly worth watching…
