Press Forward is a national movement to strengthen our democracy by revitalizing local news and information.
About Press Forward
The steady and significant decline in the availability of reliable, fact-based local news across the country is connected to growing threats to democracy, increasing polarization, and the spread of disinformation. At the same time, over a decade of investment in journalism experimentation and transformation have produced new models and solutions that are ready to scale, and a new generation of leaders prepared to reinvent and revitalize the field.
Press Forward partners are moving from individual grantmaking strategies to a shared vision and coordinated action. Press Forward is a national coalition investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news, and to scale the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive.
Press Forward’s Leadership
Sai Omkar Kandukuri
Data Scientist (part-time)
Kristina Kujawa
Grants Specialist (part-time)
Marika Lynch
Communications Lead (Part-Time)
Press Forward’s Management Committee
Our vision
The goal of this initiative is to catalyze a local news renaissance that will reshape the local news landscape and re-center local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability.
We seek to fund programs and organizations that will bolster democracy at the local level, support greater diversity, lean in to digital technology, develop long term sustainable models, and help drive demand for the high-quality local news and information necessary for every member of every community to thrive.
Simply put, our ambition is to raise significant new resources for local news, and lower the transaction costs to both funders and grant seekers in the process.
Our work will be grounded in a set of shared values.
Prioritize transformation
We will invest in ideas that will have profound and lasting change in the American media landscape, and its role in our society. We believe the sustainability of local news will depend on shifting newsrooms practice, community support, philanthropic priorities, and policy frameworks to ensure all communities have access to trusted local news and civic information.
Center community needs
We will support the news and information local communities need to flourish, foster belonging, and embrace a pluralistic democracy. Journalism takes many forms and plays many roles in a democracy, but central is truth, accuracy, and independence. This effort is focused on meeting community information needs, expanding community-centered reporting, and listening to individuals and organizations in the field.
Enable growth with equity and diversity of thought
We will close longstanding inequities in media ownership, philanthropy, and journalism, so the future of local news in America is more relevant and better serves all communities, especially those that have been historically marginalized in media and democracy.
Ensure accessibility
We will move resources to trustworthy, independent journalism that is in service to, in demand by, and available to people across America. We see journalism as a public good, that must be accessible to the widest population regardless of economic, technological, or language barriers.
Independence and interdependence
We will ensure media in America can remain strong and independent in the face of threats, while cultivating a vision of local news that values collaboration, connection, and community. Freedom of the press is paramount to any vision of a thriving democracy. At its best, that press can and will make our communities more free too.