J-Lab, a journalism think-tank at American University in Washington, DC, estimates that American foundations have donated at least $250m to non-profit journalism ventures since 2005.
The trend is spreading to other countries, including Australia and Britain, where regulators and politicians have fretted about the decline of old-fashioned media without doing much about it. Money from the David and Elaine Potter Foundation is funding the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), based at City University in London. Iain Overton, its editor, reckons that many traditional outlets lack the forensic skills, as well as the cash, to crunch data and hold the powerful to account.
Several American local papers, one of the most fragile parts of the industry, have been taken over by rich businessmen. Some of Britain’s upmarket dailies are scarcely commercial. The loss-making Guardian is run by a trust (which also owns the moneymaking Auto Trader). The Independent was saved by a Russian billionaire. Some might call that philanthropy, too.
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