The traditional media system has a long history of perpetuating racism, from profiting off the trade of enslaved people by publishing “slave ads,” to publishing op-eds from elected officials who called on the government to use troops against Black Lives Matter in 2020. As a result, few people of color own media or work in newsrooms, and news stories often contain biases that reinforce racist ideas.

To produce journalism that advocates for equity and justice, we must first transform the way journalism operates. We champion the power of journalists and publishers of color to create media that strengthens the movement for an inclusive, multiracial democracy.

The Journalism and Power Building Initiative invests in:

• Newsrooms that advance pro-democracy movements
• Expanding campaigns and organized efforts to change journalism
• Providing individual leaders with the resources they need to transform journalism

We adhere to a strict policy preserving the editorial independence of all our journalism grantees. In the instance of a grantee approaching a member of our staff for comment, we require them to go through our communications team — not a program officer — and we alert the reporter of the funding relationship. We also request that if they quote a member of our team they disclose our funding of their organization in any story produced.

In addition, the Democracy Fund communications staff does not send pitches to the nonprofit newsrooms we support, and we include language in our grant agreements that we won’t discuss editorial content with journalism grantees or otherwise seek to influence their coverage. However, we may alert newsroom leadership of Democracy Fund developments and news in the course of regular engagement with grantees.