Studies show American audiences don't notice nonprofit news differences - Poynter

Local news media have long been facing challenges. Legacy for-profit news organizations have seen staff reductions nationwide and an alarmingly growing number of them collapse altogether, leaving behind no trace of themselves or staff behind them. Penny Abernathy of Northwestern University conducted research that demonstrated between late 2019 and June 2022 alone, 360 newspapers closed in the US – representing almost one quarter of them since 2005. At its current rate, one third of our newspapers will cease publication by 2025. Nonprofit news organizations have come to fill the void and revive an emphasis on accountability journalism. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune are within striking distance of celebrating 20 years since their creation. Meanwhile, in 2009 representatives from 27 nonprofit news organizations came together to form the Institute for Nonprofit News; now boasting more than 450 membership. Research indicates that nonprofit news has unique qualities which set it apart from both commercial news organizations and citizen journalism. Jan Boehmer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Michigan, noted in 2014 that nonprofit media outlets differ significantly as they employ “experienced journalists who have left for-profit organisations to cover local communities in new, ingenious ways”. These organizations were formed by journalists who believe communities require newsrooms dedicated to nonprofit, nonpartisan coverage in order to remain informed. But does audiences appreciate this type of reporting and its advantages? Research by our nonprofit news organizations suggests that labeling an article as being produced from one doesn’t cause audiences to perceive it more credibly, contrary to popular perception. Our studies revealed this. Through an experiment conducted among demographically representative U.S. adults, we discovered that labeling an article as nonprofit does not significantly diminish how credible audiences find the reporting to be. Labelling an article as coming from a nonprofit does not affect a reader’s desire to return, nor did trust levels change among audiences who read journalists generally; so why do we care whether readers see nonprofit news as distinct? Trust and credibility are of primary concern here – convincing audiences of your dedication. Public interest should be prioritized when seeking nonprofit tax status; news organizations that aim to secure this designation by statute must serve the public interest by being “organized exclusively and operated primarily” for an education, charitable, or social welfare goal. Studies have proven the important contribution nonprofit local news organizations make toward strengthening local democracy. Overall, scholars Nikki Usher and Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell concluded in their paper: “Overall, our findings provide strong support that nonprofit watchdog journalism may play a useful supplemental role in strengthening government accountability to offset any declining circulations of local newspapers,” according to their conclusions. All nonprofit journalists would likely agree with our findings on nonprofit news differentiation; our findings offer them a challenge to clearly demonstrate it to their communities. Our research offers some guidance for them in doing this work. Since simply labeling news as nonprofit won’t set it apart from similar publications, journalists should focus on doing what they are best at: storytelling. They should explain exactly what being nonprofit means, why it benefits readers and communities, as well as any substantive differences found among nonprofit journalism titles. Clarify exactly what nonprofit means! Include details with individual stories about how philanthropic support made your work possible and spoke directly to its specific local environment – what kind of advantages does an independent news organization without profit motive provide to this community? Nonprofit news models could be the future of journalism, but we must reach an understanding of what “nonprofit news” means before expecting audiences to recognize any differences between our news models and nonprofit news models. Some might assert that the question at stake here is not whether people notice the differences; but whether we want our nonprofit news models to blend seamlessly into existing infrastructure. At Nonprofit News Service (NNS), we believe this would be underselling what distinguishes non-profit news in today’s environment and why its characteristics make it irreplaceable. To attract financial support for nonprofit news services and to ensure their model stands out, making its presence evident despite any labels.