Ideas Archive

Blog

Why we’re urging funders to support AAPI women’s leadership in journalism now

Lea Trusty

March 19, 2021

This week’s tragedy could have been avoided. For months, AAPI women in journalism have been sounding the alarm on the dramatic rise in racist and xenophobic attacks. Unfortunately, their calls were not only largely ignored by the public and policy makers, they were also minimized within their own news outlets. This historic silencing of the AAPI community, and AAPI women especially, must end.

This is why we are committed to supporting AAPI women’s leadership in journalism. AAPI journalists and media leaders have shown incredible dedication to bringing nuanced, inclusive and community-based reporting to their audiences over the last year, while risking physical, mental and emotional harm.

This week, they carried the tremendous burden of providing responsible coverage, while fearing for their own safety. They have gone to work while grieving not only the loss of life from the Atlanta attacks, but the ongoing disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 cases and fatalities affecting the AAPI community.

The work of AAPI women journalists — spanning decades and even centuries — has continuously centered AAPI communities’ experiences, perspectives and information needs. They have pushed the entire journalism industry forward by demonstrating how to center and serve those who have been historically excluded by the media. This is why we’re urging our fellow funders to join us in supporting these leaders.

The work of AAPI women journalists… has continuously centered AAPI communities’ experiences, perspectives and information needs. They have pushed the entire journalism industry forward by demonstrating how to center and serve those who have been historically excluded by the media.

At the core of much of our work in growing trusted and equitable journalism is the leadership of AAPI women. Here are just a few of the groups at the helm of this work:

The Asian American Journalists Association, led by Executive Director Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, is a membership organization working to increase the visibility and inclusion of AAPI journalists and promote fair and accurate reporting of the AAPI community.

The Maynard Institute, co-directed by Evelyn Hsu, develops and champions the leadership of journalists of color and drives more diverse and inclusive practices within news outlets across the industry.

Open News brings together journalists, editors, developers, and designers to create shared processes and tech within media. Sisi Wei, their Director of Programs, leads initiatives focused on creating a more just and inclusive journalism industry, including Vision25, a new coalition with Maynard Institute and the Online News Association.

Solidarity Journalism is an initiative led by Dr. Anita Varma at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University dedicated to improving coverage of historically marginalized communities by centering their experiences and perspectives in reporting.

URL Media, co-founded by Mitra Kalita, is a new, decentralized network of Black and Brown news organizations that focuses on content, distribution and other shared resources to build long-term sustainability.

Across our grantees other leaders like Anna Nirmala at the American Journalism Project, Alison Go at Chalkbeat, Anika Anand at LION Publishers, and Christina Shih at the News Revenue Hub are working to align journalism’s business model with more equitable and just coverage of communities.

The media’s historic stereotyping and exclusion of communities of color has done incredible harm. It’s time for a transformation. As funders, we must invest in the leadership of individuals and organizations doing the work to ensure fair and accurate reporting of AAPI communities. We must support their leadership not only in times of crisis — like the events of this week — but throughout our long-term strategies to build more community-driven journalism.

For those wondering where to get started, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) has put together a list of resources, organizations and coalitions that foundations can invest in to support AAPI communities.

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Blog

The Growing Movement for Platform Accountability

Paul Waters

March 8, 2021

Social media companies have harmed our economy, government, social fabric, and public square. The January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol, which was fueled not just by partisan networks like Parler, but by household social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, has made it clear that government intervention and better oversight is urgently needed.

While many people still still understand the problems in general terms, such as, “social media makes us polarized,” or “there’s no privacy online” there is a growing and strengthening movement to hold these companies accountable. Too often the voices of these organizers, researchers and civil society groups are missing from the discussion about how to develop better public policy, track online mis and disinformation, and hold platforms accountable through public advocacy campaigns.

Last year, we commissioned an independent report from ORS Impact to gain an in-depth understanding of the policy ideas and issues these organizations are pursuing and create a comprehensive view of current efforts to address these problems at their roots. This kind of report is an important part of our work at Democracy Fund that we use to make informed ongoing decisions about our strategy and highlight the vital work of grassroots organizations. We are publishing this report to help funders and organizations interested in doing platform accountability work gain an understanding of the field as it stands today, and develop effective strategies and programs of their own.

Three major learnings from the report will inform Democracy Fund’s Platform Accountability strategy:

1. The algorithms behind social media platforms often amplify existing inequalities along the lines of race, class, and gender, and allow for bad actors both foreign and domestic to manipulate public opinion. Existing laws and legal precedent make it difficult to regulate algorithms with public policy. For example, current interpretations of the First Amendment generally protect algorithms as a form of speech. And to begin with, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act absolves social media companies of responsibility for the content their users publish on their platforms, under the theory that the threat of being held liable for what users post would make platforms act as speech police rather than open platforms for free expression. In practice, the platforms have used this protection to avoid all responsibility for hate speech and mis/disinformation that manipulates public opinion and undermines elections. They have also used the liability protection under Section 230 as a shield against transparency and due process in their moderation practices.

Important grantees and partners in this area include:

Groups like Change the Terms, Color of Change, and MediaJustice that have led public campaigns to pressure the platforms to adopt stronger policies against hate groups, in particular white supremacists.
Free Press Action and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which have proposed comprehensive legislation to protect user data, prevent algorithmic discrimination, give users more control over their own data, empower robust enforcement of regulations, and more.
Ranking Digital Rights, which provides a public index ranking social media companies by their transparency and integrity.

2. Journalists, researchers, and other investigators face difficulties as they try to understand how the platforms distribute and amplify information. It’s also very difficult for everyday users to know who is behind the political advertising they see. The platforms have offered very little access to internal data, and as a public, we can’t solve problems we don’t understand. Opportunities include the potential for research institutions to partner with one another to collect data about how the platforms operate, and act as data brokers between platforms and researchers. Challenges include the additional need for more qualitative data from the platforms about how they develop policy and make decisions about their algorithms and content moderation processes.

Important grantees and partners in this area include:

The NYU Online Political Ads Transparency Project, which has created a free tool that allows users and researches to track the sources of political advertising on platforms.
The Stigler Committee on Digital Platforms, which has argued that the Federal Trade Commission could be empowered to have access to platforms databases, so they can perform their own research on platform impacts, and grant selective access to independent researchers.
The German Marshall Fund, which advocates for new legislation similar to existing law that requires politicians to disclose the funding source of their TV ads (the Honest Ads Act).

3. There is a need for coordination between grantees, funders and partners to distribute important civic information at scale by leveraging the tools of social media. At present, there are few viable ideas for large-scale intervention, which points out the need for more research, strategy, and relationship-building. Major efforts in this space include the 2020 Elections Research Project, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Facebook and outside academic researchers to study Facebook and Instagram’s impact on political participation and the shaping of public opinion; the Civic Information API, which aggregates essential information on local representatives and elections to empower developers and inform everyday people; and the Voting Information Project, which helps voters find reliable information on where to vote and what issues are on their ballots.

Important collaborations in this area include:

The Social Science Research Council, which supports scholars, generates new research, and connects researchers with policymakers, nonprofits, and citizens.
The Google News Initiative and Facebook Journalism Project, both of which provide monetary and in-kind support to help local news publishers connect with their communities and adapt their business models for the digital age.
The Facebook Civil Rights Audit, which Facebook initiated after a campaign led by groups like Free Press and Color of Change pressured the company to take civil rights issues on its platform more seriously.

The ORS Impact report will inform Democracy Fund’s grantmaking strategy, and how we build networks between grantees that cut across traditional divides between researchers, civil society organizations, advocates and policymakers. The report provides a snapshot of the field during a critical time for platform accountability work, providing a fuller understanding of the current context. Our sister organization, Democracy Fund Voice, will be implementing a similar review process in the coming months for its Media Policy strategy, which will include in-depth interviews with several grantees mentioned in this report about how the challenges of 2020 have impacted their work.

To learn more about our Digital Democracy program, contact Paul Waters, associate director, Public Square Program at pwaters [@] democracyfund.org.

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Report

A new tool to measure the health of local news ecosystems

Democracy Fund

March 3, 2021

The new report “Healthy Local News & Information Ecosystems: A Diagnostic Framework,” presents a framework to help local news funders assess whether a community’s information environment is actually becoming healthier. This assessment approach was tested and refined across nine U.S. communities of various sizes.

Accompanying the report is a playbook designed as a tool to help funders and other community organizations evaluate strengths and opportunities in their locale.

Photo by Matt Donders on Unsplash.

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Blog

How we are holding ourselves accountable to equity in democracy and in journalism

Joe Goldman & Tom Glaisyer

March 1, 2021

Independent journalism is an essential instrument of accountability and critical to the health of our republic. Without it, the public’s ability to check the power and influence of those who represent them is severely limited. While our elected officials may not always appreciate or agree with the criticism they receive, it is their responsibility to support a vigorous free press.

The world of philanthropy is no different. As funders, we must hold ourselves accountable to — and be willing to be held accountable by — the communities and grantees we support. As institutions with substantial power that is derived from private wealth — and not from a democratically accountable body — we have a special responsibility to embrace transparency. We should welcome dialogue and public critique if we are committed to the best interests of the communities we serve.

At Democracy Fund, we acknowledge that — through our systems, structures, and choices — we have been complicit in upholding white supremacy. We are therefore examining our external grantmaking and internal culture to ensure that we live up to the values we want to see in our democracy. Last year, we formally moved away from our previous commitment to bipartisanship because we were unwilling to compromise on the fundamental principles of a healthy democracy. Instead, we decided that we must ground ourselves in our values, including a belief that “a just and equitable political system must eliminate structural barriers to ensure historically excluded communities have meaningful influence in our democracy.” Key to this work has been listening and being accountable to our own staff, especially women of color, who have raised these issues and helped move us forward.

Specifically, our Public Square program has interrogated what it means to support racial equity in journalism (and encouraged other funders to join us). We expanded our investment in newsrooms led by and serving historically marginalized groups (and will continue to do so). We funded Black, Indigenous and people of color led organizations holding tech platforms accountable for combatting discrimination, harassment and hate. We supported new leaders working to shift industry culture. We recognize that we have much more to do to achieve justice and a democracy that works for all.

Last year we announced a number of commitments regarding how Democracy Fund will be part of the solution. Expanding on those ideas in the field of journalism, our Public Square program is working this year to:

Expand the proportion of grantees led by or serving BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other historically marginalized communities across our strategies.
Invest in trailblazers and leadership within diverse communities who are building power and organizing for equity.
Confront systemic racism, white supremacy, and white dominant culture when it shows up in our own processes and community.

We applaud those who have come forward with feedback for foundations in the past, often at risk to themselves and their livelihoods. We saw that last week when a public critique was published about the Knight Foundation, one of our philanthropic peers and partners in the journalism field. As the journalism community comes together this week at the Knight Media Forum (KMF), we hope it is an opportunity to talk more openly about how systems of power, wealth, and white supremacy shape philanthropy, and how we all can work towards a holistic system rooted in equity and inclusion.

Make no mistake, Democracy Fund has its own work to do. We will continue to take steps to live our values more closely and to address systemic racism within our organization and within democracy. We encourage our partners and grantees to examine how their own systems may be complicit in maintaining a culture of white supremacy and be open to the uncomfortable discussions and decisions that could follow. You can expect to hear more from us on these topics throughout this year and beyond. We welcome accountability as we do the work.

We are eager to continue the conversation. If you have feedback you can email us at info@democracyfund.org, and we also encourage people to provide anonymous feedback about Democracy Fund on Grant Advisor.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.