Ideas Archive

Report

The Costs of Political Violence in the United States

Andrew Blum

February 17, 2021

The health of our American democracy requires strategic investment in community-led solutions that combat political violence and mitigate its cost to society.

The Costs of Political Violence in the United States — And the Benefits of Investing in Communities by Dr. Andrew Blum, executive director of the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego, examines the human and economic costs of political violence and the strategic investments in evidence-based, community-led solutions that are addressing it.

The report looks at the recent surge in extremism, hate crimes, armed militias, and acts of police brutality and assesses the associated costs: injury and loss of life, trauma, property damage, lost business revenue and personal wages, and the acceleration of additional violence. Philanthropy can mitigate these costs, but investments must be directed toward initiatives led by targeted communities that at their core promote democratic goals and support community resilience.

Back to Ideas

Report

Motor Vehicle Departments: Bedrock of American Democracy

Lisa Danetz

February 2, 2021

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) play a crucial role in our elections. This report seeks to raise the level of recognition of the agency’s role – among policymakers, state agency officials, advocates, and the public – to improve their partnerships and the functioning of our democracy.

Since the passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA or “motor voter”), state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) have evolved into a bedrock of the modern system of election administration—for voter registration in particular. Since then, their role in our elections has expanded to include multiple types of voter registration, identity verification, and maintenance of accurate voter registration lists. While the current scope of DMV involvement in election administration is relatively unappreciated, raising the level of recognition of the agency’s role – among policymakers, state agency officials, advocates, and the public – is important to improve the functioning of our democracy. This report, Motor Vehicle Departments: Bedrock of American Democracy, serves as a primer and guide for these audiences and other interested parties on the history, parameters and robustness of their current role, and provides a catalogue of everything DMV officials do in election administration.

Unfortunately, the evolution of the DMVs’ role occurred without initial buy-in from DMV administrators or an expansion of resources for DMVs to fulfill their growing role. Rather, in most states, state reliance on DMVs expanded without a commensurate expansion of available funding. Sustained and regular interaction, discussion, and consideration with respect to the scope of DMVs’ role in election administration – among their many other core duties – is happening only now, over a quarter century after passage of the NVRA.

The level of election administration reliance on DMVs is now so great that the public, policymakers, and DMV and election officials should reconceptualize DMVs as integral partners in implementing American democracy. Rather than a non-election entity, DMVs – on an everyday basis – are providing irreplaceable support in delivering aspects of our election systems.

Back to Ideas

Op-Ed

Philanthropy’s Inauguration March: What the Real Work of Protecting Democracy Demands Now

Joe Goldman

January 20, 2021

After a heroic effort to maintain the integrity of our election system over the past year, Wednesday’s inauguration marks a key turning point, one that requires philanthropy’s continued focus on the health of our democracy.

Back to Ideas

Statement

Democracy Fund’s Statement on President Trump’s Second Impeachment

Democracy Fund

January 14, 2021

Last week, President Trump and his allies incited an insurrection against the United States of America in an attempt to undermine the peaceful transfer of power. Almost exactly 12 months after the Senate trial began in President Trump’s earlier impeachment, he is now the first president of the United States to be impeached for a second time. With the most bipartisan impeachment vote of a president in the history of the republic, Congress took an important stand in defense of our Constitution and our democracy.

On January 20th we will (officially) begin the journey to repair the damage done by an authoritarian president bent on tearing down the core institutions of our democracy and responsible for further unleashing the forces of white nationalism into our democratic society. As we take the steps necessary to heal our country, we must not simply turn the page, but rather ensure accountability for the damage done throughout these past four years.

Accountability — for the president and his allies — is an essential step but cannot stand alone. It must be coupled with a new era of reform that ensures our democracy is never again left so vulnerable, and that pursues a reimagined vision of an open and just democracy. We must use our collective experience to focus our attention on building a democracy worthy of the support and trust of every American.

Back to Ideas

Statement

Philanthropies Condemn Political Violence, Call on Leaders to Protect Democracy

Democracy Fund

January 13, 2021

As representatives of nonpartisan philanthropic institutions, serving rural, urban, and suburban communities across the nation, we condemn the violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol this week. The events in Washington are a stain on our nation’s history and a painful break in the peaceful transition of power that has been a defining hallmark of American democracy for more than 200 years.

Back to Ideas

Blog

Centering Equity in Journalism during the 2020 Election — and Beyond

Angelica Das

December 16, 2020

2020 was a marathon for journalists preparing for an election that seemed very likely to go off the rails. They did it while also facing unprecedented issues of safety, security, and stability in a global pandemic, a census year, and becoming increased targets for police violence. Journalists of color, Black journalists in particular, tackled all of the above while continuing to navigate systemic racism and leading a reckoning over racial justice in the industry.

In the lead-up to November and throughout election week, many of us were tuned into cable networks and refreshing news feeds around the clock, but national election coverage — predictably — failed us in many ways. As in past years, it often dealt in generalizations and erased identities. In one notable high-profile failure, CNN labeled Native Americans and presumably other unidentified voters as “something else,” rather than naming their demographics. Communities of color were also overwhelmingly targeted by misinformation.

But reporters and newsrooms around the country rose to the challenge of engaging communities, holding candidates accountable, and centering equity. If you’re a regular EJ Lab reader, it will come as no surprise that the best place to look for examples of equity-first election coverage is from newsrooms by and serving people of color. Here’s a snapshot of what these newsrooms did:

They spoke directly to immigrant communities. Borderless Magazine, committed to more equitable immigration journalism, spoke with Rohingya Americans in Chicago about voting for the first time. Sahan Journal, dedicated to news for and about immigrants in Minnesota, reported about candidate engagement with Hmong American voters and the political diversity of their community.
They reported information voters need. Bilingual El Tecolote published analysis by San Francisco State University students on how state propositions on the ballot would specifically impact California Latino communities. Native America Calling dug into the latest information about Native voting access for tribes across the country.
They served their communities. Nonprofit start-up Pulso provided news, information, and perspectives to Latino voters who are often much more generalized by national media, such as how Latino voters shape candidate platforms, the significance of National Voter Registration Day, or the impact of new laws. For Spanish-language newsroom Enlace Latino NC, the story of voter education and registration didn’t end with the November election. They highlighted the impact of organizers in North Carolina whose work is ongoing.
They exposed voter suppression. MLK50 told the story of how an ex-offender legally regained his voting rights despite major challenges in Tennessee. Sahan Journal covered how Muslim faith leaders pushed back against efforts to discourage Muslim voter turnout in Minnesota. The Lakota Times reported on state violations of the National Voter Registration Act in South Dakota.
They sought out individual voter perspectives. Flint Beat wrote about the experience of being a 2020 Latinx voter in Michigan: including how discrimination, White House policies, and community organizing all have an impact on voter decisions. And The TRiiBE spoke with young Black Chicago voters about their ballot options and their hopes for future policy reforms.

The accomplishments above didn’t just happen by chance. They are the result of long-term commitment and relationship building between journalists of color and their communities, and they were fueled by funders who understood the urgency of 2020 and worked together to coordinate and drive resources to support capacity building, staffing, and targeted projects focused on serving communities. As we turn the corner into 2021, the urgency is still with us, and the need for more coordination, more resources and more commitment to journalists of color continues.

As we turn the corner into 2021, the urgency is still with us, and the need for more coordination, more resources and more commitment to journalists of color continues.

We have seen what we can do when we work together to drive support to these newsrooms — and it’s time to keep building momentum. Here’s what funders can do to support engaged, equitable reporting in 2021:

Give more. Join the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund to deliver resources directly to newsrooms led by and serving communities of color. Many of the newsrooms mentioned above are grantees of the Fund.
Make some noise. Use your communication channels to share examples of ongoing equity-first reporting. Newsrooms like The Atlanta Voice, Bridge Detroit and Wisconsin Watch, in places subject to widespread false claims of election fraud, are working around the clock to ensure ongoing accountability, and they need more support.
Continue the work in 2021. The full story of the 2020 election — and the state of elections coverage — hasn’t yet been told. Pay attention to what worked and what didn’t. Tune in for learning and debriefs from projects like Election SOS who is analyzing how the Citizens Agenda, newsroom fellowships, Experts Network, Rapid Response Fund and other initiatives fueled more engaged, trusted, and representative election coverage.

For our part, the Engaged Journalism team at Democracy Fund will be identifying clear action steps to shift our internal structures and practices to put equity first in our grantmaking. Stay tuned for updates on how this goes in 2021.

Published with research support from Public Square Intern Areeba Shah.

Back to Ideas

Blog

Why I’m hopeful about local news in 2021

Teresa Gorman

December 16, 2020

When you look back at how local news fared in 2020, you might be surprised by how hopeful I am for the future.

Things have been pretty rough this year. Local newspapers, public media, digital startups, and even independent nonprofit local news outlets faced debilitating layoffs and budget shortfalls despite calls for journalism to be considered an essential service in a pandemic. Newsrooms faced a drastic plunge after a steady economic fall, but the economic reality wasn’t the only danger. Many outlets continued to hold on to outdated journalistic practices that harm communities of color and destroy trust with residents. I see that every day with Democracy Fund’s grantees — they’re stretched impossibly thin, dealing with dual pandemics of structural racism and COVID-19.

Taken as a whole, that story of local news may feel like a tragedy unfolding, but the thing is, the story of local news is so much more nuanced than that. While those grantees are stretched, at the same time, they and many other local leaders have come through with some of the most resilient, creative work this year. Across the country, we have seen many examples, like these::

Enlace Latino used WhatsApp and created voter guides in Spanish for North Carolinians.
Outlier Media used texts to give Detroiters answers on where to find food pantries and where to leave a ballot.
Newsrooms banded together with the Colorado Media Project to counter misinformation about COVID-19 and the election.
The Chicago Independent Media Alliance united dozens of local community media to raise money for each other and to replicate innovative government ad models learned from the Center for Community Media.
Loved and Lost, a massive newsroom collaboration in New Jersey led by the Center for Cooperative Media, identified and memorialized 100s of New Jersey residents who died from COVID-19.

These responses to challenging circumstances all centered equity and community needs, The pioneering leaders behind this work represent just a sampling of people who are ecosystem builders — who see a gap in local information where they live, and work to fill it. And the ideas they implemented in 2020 didn’t come out of nowhere. They have been writing the playbook and connecting and strengthening their ecosystems as they go, from the bottom up, for years.

Democracy Fund has dedicated millions of dollars to building healthier and more resilient local news ecosystems across the country in partnership with these ecosystem builders. This work is not possible without them, and I’ve been impossibly lucky to learn from them over my tenure as a program officer. They have been doing the hard and continuous work to develop new models, champion new ideas, build trust and community, and literally underpin our democracy, often while being unrecognized, undermined and under-funded by philanthropy.

In 2021, let’s focus on (and fund!) the solutions that have been there all along

That troubling trend of being unrecognized and unappreciated is never more clear than when I read almost any article about the future of local news. Too often, the “future of news” is defined by white men from elite parts of the industry who seize on a flashy technology or a national startup as the thing that will save us all. They ignore and demean those who are building with equity and community as their guiding star, many of whom are Black and brown women. They wail about the loss of local news, while refusing to see the solutions right in front of their faces.

In 2021, I say, no more. It’s time to put our hope, our dollars, and our support behind the people and solutions that were there all along. It’s time to listen.

Here are just a few of the Democracy Fund grantees, partners, and leaders that I am turning to for this transformative, hopeful, vision of what local news can be. All of them, and many more, are who give me hope — and I hope they give you hope, too.

“This moment calls for radical thinking — for fundamentally reimagining the role of the journalist. By seeking a rigorous understanding of history, learning how to work collaboratively with shared trust and agency, and building collective power, journalism can rise to meet this moment in a spirit of liberation and resistance,” —Cierra Hinton, Lewis Raven Wallace, and Manolia Charlotin, leaders at PressOn, a media collective that catalyzes change and justice in the South. (Journalism Must Be an Act of Community-Building)
“The journalists we need today are not heroic observers of crisis—they are conveners, facilitators, organizers, educators, on-demand investigators, and community builders. Most of all, they strengthen the systems that make communities resilient, ” —Darryl Holliday, co-founder of City Bureau, a civic journalism lab building community in Chicago and sharing their model with communities in Cleveland and Detroit. (What Journalism Can Learn from Mutual Aid)
“I personally know so many colleagues who are just very passionate about journalism. They’re also passionate about New Mexico… In spite of all these pressures and all these difficulties, they believe they have a meaningful role in creating a better future for New Mexico… I think at least some folks have that mentality: that even though there are many difficulties, it is an opportunity, as well. We can choose to take the opportunity.” —Diana Alba-Soular, Southern manager for the New Mexico Local News Fund, an organization connecting journalists and communities with resources, support, and new ideas. (Why Diana Alba-Soular is working on the wellbeing of New Mexico journalism)
“Over time, institutions and individuals in power have been allowed to ignore the concerns and struggles of the disenfranchised. But when underserved and marginalized communities come together our voices can be heard, and who better to identify the needs of the community than the people who live there? If I know anything about Newark, I know for certain that the people who make up New Jersey’s largest city are as resilient as they are resourceful and they always find a way to work it out,” —Kenneth Miles, a freelancer and consultant for the Center for Cooperative Media, a backbone organization whose mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism in New Jersey. (Solutions needed to help fill information gaps in Newark)
“This year’s election cycle elicited record donations — now it’s time to direct that support to another feature of our democracy: a new generation of local news outlets,” —Sarabeth Berman, the Executive Director of American Journalism Project, a venture philanthropy organization which pairs capacity building with transformative investments in civic news organizations. (How the death of local news has made political divisions far worse)
“For journalism to have a future, it must broaden its definition of audience and serve more diverse communities with a staff and models that reflect the changing reality…Well, for those publishers of color serving low-wealth news consumers, they’re already hitting that mark by attracting, serving, and building trust with those that many newsrooms have discarded. They are reimaging what a newsroom can and should be.” —Candice Fortman, Executive Director of Outlier Media, a service journalism outlet that uses SMS texting technology to provide information to Detroit and shares their methodology with other ecosystems. (Faith is not a business plan)
“I’m realizing that so much is untapped as [NewsMatch] year over year progresses and gets to strengthen these [nonprofit news] organizations. It gives me a lot of hope for the future. Once organizations are able to learn and leverage these opportunities, it shows how a sustainable ecosystem for nonprofits news could eventually become the norm.” —Courtney Hurtt, program manager for NewsMatch, a yearly matching campaign that has helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $100M over 5 years. (Courtney Hurtt is building a better future for nonprofit newsrooms via NewsMatch. Here’s how.)
“By following New Jersey’s example, local and state governments can build off the decades-long tradition of public investments in media and target government funding toward news deserts and underserved communities…The future of local news is too important to be left to market forces, and the media conglomerates that got us into the local-news crisis aren’t going to get us out of it. That’s why we need more people-powered campaigns like the one behind the Civic Info Bill in New Jersey so that any decisions about local journalism respond to our needs and don’t rely on the systems that have failed us,” —Mike Rispoli, News Voices Director at Free Press and board member of the NJ Civic Info Consortium, an example of a structural change that is inspiring states across the country including in Ohio and Colorado. (Why the Civic Info Consortium Is Such a Huge Deal)

As you can probably imagine, I could share voice after voice, person after person, making change and transformation happen now. But I’ll leave you with what is probably the most important point of all:

“Alone, no one person or organization has the power, insight, creativity or path for achieving what is possible. In coalition, however, all of that is present… Together, we have everything we need.” (Media 2070: An invitation to dream up media reparations)

Together, all of these ideas, leaders, and initiatives represent the transformation that can, and will, come to local journalism in 2021. They go beyond economic bandaids and trying to recreate old systems. Instead, they look to the future and, if we support them and follow their lead, can create true structural changes so that all communities can have access to the information they need to live healthy lives. We should all thank them for giving us this hope — I certainly will.

In 2021, Democracy Fund’s Public Square Team will continue to share what we’ve learned in our first five plus years of grantmaking with you. Did something here connect with you, or did I miss something? Reach out at tgorman [@] democracyfund.org.

Learn more about Democracy Fund’s grantees and work:

Sign up for the Local Fix newsletter.

Read our guide to assessing a local ecosystem.

Learn about local news ecosystems at The Local News Lab.

See who we fund via Democracy Fund’s database.

Back to Ideas

Blog

NewsMatch: A unique program to fund news “for the people, with the people”

December 4, 2020

News is a public good.

What does it mean to treat journalism as a public good? Without an informed citizenry able to access the news they need to navigate their lives, actively participate in the public square, and hold their local and national government officials accountable to their public duties, we are at risk of weakening democracy’s most vital participant and protector, the people. That is why NewsMatch has spent five years building a people powered campaign to support and strengthen nonprofit news.

Since 2004, nearly 1,800 communities in the United States have lost their newspapers. This is in addition to communities that have long existed with limited access to news and information that is relevant and useful to navigating local life. Not only are Americans losing their local newspapers, but local tv and radio news programs are also losing the original and substantive investigations these newspapers used to provide. While some news seekers turn toward social media, local tv and local newspapers remain the most utilized sources for news. The ongoing disappearance and deterioration of credible and comprehensive local news limits people’s ability to meet the critical information necessary to make important decisions that impact their everyday lives. It is not enough to simply save what has been lost, we need to rebuild stronger with serving the public as our foundation.

Mission versus money.

As traditional news models break down, there have been entrepreneurial efforts experimenting with business models to find new markets and new audiences. Many of these efforts utilize digital platforms and focus on attracting paying subscribers and advertisers. Yet, people most in need of quality and credible news are the least likely to be able to pay for it (and for what advertisers are trying to sell). They are also often part of communities whose stories and informational priorities need to be better reflected in the news already. Fortunately, there are emerging newsrooms who are increasingly committed to improving representation, inclusion and equity in their news content creation and seeking to transform the industry. But these newsrooms are forced to compete with the bottom-line need to be financially sustainable. NewsMatch seeks to level the playing field through philanthropic matching dollars and in-depth investment in capacity building around fundraising for nonprofit newsrooms.

News for all, not for some.

More and more, the philanthropic world is recognizing the opportunity to protect democracy by supporting rigorous and inclusive journalism. Finding ways to disentangle news generation from news revenue ensures that the media industry won’t just serve the interest and needs of those who can afford to pay for it or pay to influence it. Supporting news organizations committed to inclusive and fact-based news and information might also help to stymie the proliferation of media organizations with nefarious objectives that are filling the media gap in poor communities with news that is often free to the consumer, but also highly partisan, not credible and not independent from political or corporate interests. A public shift from seeing news as a service one pays for solo access to a collective good that benefits us all is an important step toward treating local news like the vital democractic resource it is.

NewsMatch is one strategy.

NewsMatch was created as a strategic way to support quality journalism. It aims to jumpstart small, emerging newsrooms, some serving communities that have been poorly served by mainstream or national media. News for the people, with the people, NewsMatch’s 2020 slogan captures the promise of what newsrooms can become when we recognize the public good it provides and act to protect it.

The NewsMatch annual campaign pools funds nationally to provide participating newsrooms with a matching incentive and tools and training to build its long-term fundraising capacity. Newsmatch is a powerful tool for donors, foundations, and corporations concerned about the future of local and investigative reporting. Since 2016, NewsMatch helped 200+ nonprofit newsrooms across the country raise more than $100 million from hundreds of thousands of people — many of whom were first-time donors to nonprofit news. In 2019, NewsMatch turned $3.7 million in philanthropic investments into $43.5 million in support for local news in just two months, a more than 1200 percent return on investment.

So, how is NewsMatch doing?

So far, so good. Last year, Democracy Fund partnered with the Knight Foundation to commission an evaluation of NewsMatch to see how the campaign was faring on three ambitious goals: 1) to dramatically increase giving to journalism, 2) to strengthen long term fundraising capacity in newsrooms; and 3) to build awareness about journalism’s impact in our democracy. There was ample evidence that the 2019 NewsMatch program met the first goal, with returning organizations securing more donors and donations then the previous year. The second and third goals, which were longer-term in nature, were not yet met, although there was indication of progress toward both goals. Related to the second goal by design, NewsMatch serves a diverse array of nonprofit news organizations ranging from small community-based start-up organizations to national public media outlets. That diversity makes it a necessity to tailor the training and support provided so that it is more relevant to the specific context and challenges each media organization faces. To better provide this added nuance, an investment toward additional administrative support was made to help newsrooms strengthen long-term fundraising capacity. As for the third goal, while this evaluation found some evidence that the general public may not yet be aware of news as something to donate to, part of NewsMatch approach is to help funders and the public begin to see news as vital to our democracy and thus cannot be left solely to market forces.

What can I do?

This post opened with the line local news is a public good. If after reading this you agree, well then, we’re a bit closer to it becoming one. Reimagining the role of the news as a collective good that strengthens and protects democracy moves us beyond futile attempts to patch and reinstitute a flawed industry with a history of neglecting and harming communities of color. There is an opportunity now to set the bar much higher by supporting local news organizations committed to the transformative change necessary to become a news industry that truly serves all people.

If you are an individual interested in donating to support news as a public good, you can find a local media organization by using the search engine NewsMatch provides on their site. If you are a grantmaker, consider becoming a partnering funder.

Lastly, while philanthropic giving is powerful, we recognize that it is just one strategy to treat local news like a public good. Newsrooms serving marginalized communities can struggle to compete for philanthropic dollars as well. While philanthropy is important, it is no replacement for sound local and federal policy. Democracy Fund is also supporting burgeoning media policy efforts to protect local news. We look forward to sharing more about this work in future posts.

Back to Ideas

Blog

How La Noticia is meeting readers where they are during COVID-19

Lea Trusty

November 18, 2020

As part of our series of conversations with journalism leaders serving communities of color, I spoke with Alvaro Gurdián, Vice President of Operations at La Noticia, on how they’re adapting to COVID-19. La Noticia is a for-profit, print and digital news outlet that has served the Latino community in North Carolina for over 23 years. Alvaro and I met on the journalism conference circuit last year, and Democracy Fund proudly supports La Noticia through the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund.

Below is a lightly edited recap of our conversation.

LT: We’re now several months into COVID-19, and La Noticia has been serving communities across North Carolina since the start. What has this moment brought to light for you around the role of community media during crises?

AG: It’s only highlighted how important it is. We have readers who tell us, “I don’t know where to find food,” or “I don’t know where to find masks.” And really, that’s what we’re doing on the day-to-day. We’ll take one question and assume that if one person asks, there are probably dozens or hundreds of readers that have the same question. So we try to build content around that.

We know it resonates because we have people writing to us privately, saying, “Wow, thank you,” at a volume that we didn’t have before for things someone might consider very basic. So people are really taking to heart the value of this work. And that’s uplifting, because we’re obviously working far more hours than we were before.

LT: It’s really great that y’all have been able to continue to do this work and that folks are seeing its value. Are there any common themes coming from your readers right now?

AG: I don’t think the needs have changed that much, they’re just more pressing. Where we are, in North Carolina, Latinos have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. So they need help. For example, the North Carolina Restaurants Association had set up a fund to help people in the industry. But there was so much need, it closed within 24 hours. So what’s the next wave? Where else can we get help?

These things are changing so fast, and social media is a firehose. It’s great if you find what you need in the moment, but how do you search for it later on? That’s been a bit of a disconnect for us. So we’ve been putting more resources on our website, newsletters, and social media so people know where to reach this information again when they need it.

LT: How else are you staying connected with readers?

AG: Believe it or not, we’ve been reaching them through print. Our advertising may have gone down, but our take-up rate has only increased. Think about it: Even if you live in a metro area, not everybody has broadband at home. Many of our readers are used to getting their Internet from work, school, church, wherever they shop. Most of those are gone completely, so they need the newspaper now more than ever. Or they have basic plans where they’ll have social media but not actual Internet. They’ll get headlines, but they don’t have the details. So our print has become much more important than before, and we know it is still a core part of our mission to inform our community through print.

Many of our readers are used to getting their Internet from work, school, church, wherever they shop. Most of those are gone completely, so they need the newspaper now more than ever.

LT: How are you balancing that tension between the continued need for print and drop in ad revenue?

AG: We try to view it all as a whole. We’re for-profit, but as long as we’re not burning cash, we’re willing to stretch a little here and make it up somewhere else. For example, events are usually big for us, but those are obviously not a thing for us right now. I think that’s a serious conversation we need to have with funders. We have readers who are disadvantaged, and it’s not enough to say, “Alright, let’s put it online.” Data plans cost money. And that’s assuming that everyone has phones and knows how to operate them. There are a lot of barriers that people don’t consider from the 40,000 foot view. So that’s part of why we’re continuing to reach out through print. Of course, our digital has gone up, but not enough to make up for the print.

LT: Keeping some of those challenges in mind, what do outlets need to do to continue serving their communities, particularly those that have been historically marginalized?

AG: Most of these outlets already know what they need to be doing. Sometimes it’s less of the “what” and more of the “how.” That could mean coaching or getting up to date on workflow automation. As I get further into this, I’m amazed at how much we were missing. We’re using new data software that does 90% of the work of posting new articles. It saves maybe five minutes, but when you have to do several stories a day, that counts.

I also think funders could focus more on bringing communities up to speed on digital — not only connecting them to the tools and technology, but training them on how to use it. People tell us, “I didn’t know I could save that story for later,” or “I don’t know how to search it for later.” I think that often goes unnoticed.

I also think funders could focus more on bringing communities up to speed on digital — not only connecting them to the tools and technology, but training them on how to use it.

LT: How do you see that as a part of media equity?

AG: Well, it’s not enough to simply put out information, whether it’s funded or not. People need to be able to access it and know how to access it. We’ll get comments saying, “I didn’t know how to get to that information,” or, “I called the number you told me but they weren’t picking up.” There are a lot of these resources we’re trying to connect them to, but they’re not always user-friendly — especially government ones. We try to condense that information, but when we refer back to them, it’s easy to get lost.

LT: As a final question, I was wondering what are some pivots you’ve made, or wish you could, to continue meeting those needs?

AG: We were already pivoting to digital, improving our website, adding a membership model. We just had to do it a lot faster than we thought we were going to be doing. Eighty-five percent of our [digital] readership is mobile, so those updates were critical. So we did that, and we launched the membership right away.

Moments like this show that if you [have the resources to] get started on this earlier, the better it is. It just so happens that we embarked on most of the things that we needed to do already. It just meant that we needed to speed up a lot of things we had already planned. We did have a plan in place, we just didn’t plan to have it in place so quickly.

Back to Ideas

Statement

Statement From Democracy Fund President Joe Goldman

Joe Goldman

November 7, 2020

Today, Joe Biden was projected the winner of the 2020 presidential election. He will serve as the 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris will be the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as vice president. The fact that we have a projected winner today in light of the unprecedented challenges we have faced as a nation demonstrates the resilience of our democratic institutions and the successful execution of our electoral process.

Our nation’s ability to run an election amid a global pandemic was not a foregone conclusion just a few days ago. It is remarkable that this election proceeded with few reports of issues in election administration and limited instances of the violence we feared. Most notably, it is worth celebrating that more than 150 million Americans exercised their right to vote — many for the first time — resulting in a once-in-a-century level of turnout. And despite political pressure, it is a testament to the endurance of our democracy that all of their votes are being counted.

These remarkable accomplishments are due to the tireless efforts of dedicated public servants and civil society groups who have worked against all of the odds to ensure the integrity of our electoral systems, improve voter access, and inspire the public to get engaged. We also cannot overstate how important it is that hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly Black and Brown women, answered the call to serve their democracy as organizers, volunteers, and poll workers. We are incredibly grateful to all of our grantees who made this possible, and look forward to celebrating their hard work in the coming weeks and months.

But despite these accomplishments, the results of this election have not brought the threats to our democracy to an end — in many ways, this election has revealed the true depths of the challenges we face.

The rhetoric coming from President Trump and his supporters baselessly questioning the validity of this election are appalling and undemocratic. Their worst rhetoric — challenging votes from historically disenfranchised communities for extra scrutiny — requires swift and strong condemnation. With no credible evidence of fraud to date, the myriad legal challenges brought forth are unlikely to change the outcome. They are instead intended to foment public unrest and to undermine the long-term health of our democratic institutions.

Americans must refute these efforts. Leaders within both parties and within the media – along with trusted nonpartisan leaders within our religious, business, and veteran communities – must work to assure voters of the facts in order to facilitate a peaceful transition of power.

It is time to begin to repair the damage done by an administration bent on tearing down democratic norms and questioning our foundational institutions. We now have an opportunity to create a democracy worthy of the trust of every American and shift the underlying, toxic dynamics that have poisoned our political system. From the federal government to the local level, we must undertake a new era of reforms to foster effective, inclusive government institutions able to deliver for the American people.

Make no mistake: creating a more open and just democracy remains an enormous undertaking. We must not be daunted, but let the urgency of this moment energize and focus us for the work ahead.