Online news finds niche in fragile times.

Jarvis, John

While investigative budgets at newspapers are shrinking, online nonprofit news organizations are finding financing from charitable foundations, journalism schools, philanthropists and other donors.

These revenue streams are fueling investigative reporting efforts at the local, regional and national levels in Minnesota (MinnPost.com), Missouri (St. Louis Beacon), Texas (Texas Tribune in Austin), San Diego (Voice of San Diego), across California (California Watch) in New York (ProPublica), and even in university classrooms.

At least one seasoned reporter has used his newsroom knowledge as a springboard into academia, where he's teaching a new generation of reporters. Walter Robinson, a professor at Boston's Northeastern University, translated his 34-year stint at the Boston Globe into teaching investigative reporting classes to undergraduate and graduate students. It's a subject he knows well. While at the Globe, Robinson led a team of reporters that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the sexual abuse scandal involving the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church. A university website notes that students in his class have generated 26 front-page investigative stories for the Globe since 2007.

Of making the change from journalism to academics, Robinson said, "I think of the classroom as a newsroom. They are not 'students' but journalists. They are investigating and reporting real news."

An increasing number of investigative centers are affiliated with universities. The Investigative Journalism Education Consortium (IJEC) uses investigative journalism classes in Midwest states to produce publishable stories. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting also uses college professors and students in its focus on agribusiness. Professors Brent Houston, from the University of Illinois, and William H. Freivogel, from Southern Illinois University; lead these efforts. Houston obtained funding from the McCormick Foundation and Center for Ethics and Excellence in Journalism.

Other university centers affiliated with IJEC are Stephen Berry's Iowa Center for Public Affairs and Andy Hall's Wisconsin Center for Investigative journalism. Also involved are Matt Waite of the University of Nebraska, Suzanne McBride at Columbia College Chicago and Gerard Lanosga at Indiana University.

In Texas, venture capitalist John Thornton is one of the Texas Tribune's three founders. The other two are Texas political journalist Ross Ramsey and former Texas Monthly magazine editor Evan Smith.

The Texas Tribune encourages reader interaction on its website while also conducting events that focus on community engagement. It's similar to approaches taken by other online nonprofit journalism organizations such as the St. Louis Beacon--"a nonprofit news organization dedicated to creating a better St. Louis powered by journalism," according to information on its website--and the Bay Citizen in San Francisco. (The Bay Citizen is part of the Center for Investigative Reporting, the longest-running nonprofit investigative news center in the nation.) Another nonprofit website is MinnPost.com, which was launched in 2007 by Joel Kramer, the former editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Initial funding for that project came from private donors, and from grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Blandin Foundation.

MinnPost.com "is one example of a site with varied revenue streams that is faring better than most," noted "The State of the News Media 2012," an annual report on American journalism produced by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. "A nonprofit, MinnPost's annual report for 2011 shows strong growth in visits to the site and in memberships, and a 19 percent increase in revenue to $1.5 million. About a quarter of the revenue came from advertising and sponsorships, another 25 percent came from individual and corporate memberships, 21 percent came from foundation grants, 20 percent from a capital campaign and 9 percent from special events."

Information on California Watch's website reveals that the organization "is supported by major grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the California Endowment, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation." California Watch, which was founded by the Center for Investigative Reporting, has offices in the Bay Area, as well as in Sacramento and southern California.

Not every venture along this new path is prospering, though. In December 2011, Voice of San Diego was forced to lay off four employees--including its photo editor, education reporter and neighborhood reporter--when its fundraising totals failed to hit projections. In Chicago, the Chi-Town Daily News failed; it had abandoned its nonprofit business model four years after it launched in 2005. Editor and founder Geoff Dougherty said in a statement posted on the organization's website that, "as a nonprofit, we cannot raise the money we need to build a truly robust local news organization that provides comprehensive local coverage." Another nonprofit news initiative to fail was the Chicago News Cooperative; it was formed in October 2009 and shut down in February 2012.

The path to survival in this new media landscape, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism report, is the one that has been forged by the Texas Tribune and MinnPost.com. "As some seed grants begin to sunset, a shakeout in community news sites is beginning, along with a clearer model for success," a press alert from the 2012 report reads. "The model for success, epitomized by Texas Tribune and MinnPost, is to diversify funding sources and spend more resources on business--not just journalism."