Big Tech-Funded Program Covers Part of Salaries for Local Journalists

A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta in front of displayed Google logo on Nov. 2, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Local news publications nationwide are taking part in a program that allows them to hire journalists partially sponsored by a project funded by big tech behemoths such as Meta, Google, and Microsoft.

Report for America (RFA), an initiative of The Ground Truth Project, allows newsrooms nationwide to compete for assistance to fill coverage gaps. Once RFA selects a newsroom, they take responsibility to pay part of the writer’s salary while they work for the local publication and receive ongoing training from The Ground Truth Project initiative.

RFA pays 50 percent of the journalist’s salary, an additional 25 percent of the salary is paid by local donors, and the remaining 25 percent is paid by the news organization employing the RFA corps member.

RFA’s list of donors helping to sponsor the writers includes the Meta Journalism Project, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Knight Foundation, Google News Initiative, Microsoft, as well as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

According to the RFA website, after approving a publication to receive an RFA corps member, the group prescreens “emerging journalists” who might meet the news organization’s requests and pays up to $25,000 for the journalist’s salary before passing the process off to the publication’s leadership: “You make the final reporter selection. And they work for you while receiving ongoing training and support from us.”

In further explanation of the input journalists stationed around the country will receive from RFA, the group explained to prospective writers, “At the start of the program, you’ll spend time learning from expert journalists and other trainers about your beat, specific skills to know, and more. Ongoing training throughout the year will build on that. You’ll also have the opportunity to be paired with a mentor who will give you personal, ongoing guidance.”

RFA continues training the journalists while in the field, with its website stating that the continuing mentorship is “a hugely important part” of its mission.

“Corps members receive intensive training to prepare them for the year ahead by world-class editors, technologists, academics, and other supporters of the future of journalism, plus continued support and mentoring throughout their term of service,” RFA states.

RFA’s compilation of 2023–2024 open newsrooms listed 56 open positions, including nine in Texas, three in Michigan, three in North Carolina, and two in Florida.

The Epoch Times reached out to several of the newsrooms listed on RFA’s list of upcoming partners with several questions about how they expect RFA to affect their coverage. Questions included the issue of what the selection process was like, whether RFA will have input on day-to-day coverage or editorial duties, and whether funding from RFA was subject to ongoing standards and practices.

Sam Kille, RFA’s interim vice president of communications, responded to the inquiry sent to the newsrooms, saying that safeguards are in place to subvert any undue influence on the practices of local publications.

“We are clear with the donors who support Report for America as a national organization that their support will not affect coverage,” he said. “And beyond that firewall, there’s a practical safeguard: The reporters are employees of the newsrooms, not Report for America. Editorial decisions are made by local editors, two steps removed from donors. As for donors to the local newsroom, we ask our partners to approach that in the same spirit that newspapers (mostly) did with advertisers: making it clear that the support doesn’t buy coverage. Our newsroom partners embrace that same ethos that we do.”

When asked if RFA indicated to any of their news partners that they shouldn’t answer questions from journalists, Kille responded by saying, “Our goal is to help local newsrooms cover the stories that matter to their communities.

“When we heard that you had reached out, we let all of our newsrooms know that it was their decision to respond to you. If anything, we encouraged them to think of this as a good opportunity to share how valuable our program is at a time when newsrooms are folding across the country. As I stated in my previous email, all editorial decisions are made by the newsrooms—neither we nor our donors have any say regarding coverage.”

Of the nine publications The Epoch Times reached out to, only the Chicago Sun-Times replied with a comment. Sun-Times Executive Editor Jennifer Kho told The Epoch Times that RFA is “not involved” in its story selections or editing process.

“Report for America funding does not influence how we cover stories,” Kho said.

When asked how its partnership with RFA has affected the overall coverage the publication is able to provide, Kho said, “Report for America’s partnership has been invaluable. We have been able to report on undercovered communities and subjects with their help.”

In addition to the 50-plus publications looking to add RFA journalists to their newsrooms in the upcoming year, RFA’s corps members include more than 300 journalists in publications across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.