Our impact

Today the American Press Institute is publishing our 2024 impact report, which captures the breadth and depth of the work we’ve done in the past year, with an eye toward the next 12 months.

First, some numbers. In 2024, we awarded 66 grants to local and community media organizations to experiment with new kinds of journalism. More than 200 organizations took part in our training and coaching programs. We held more than 30 convenings — including three in-person Local News Summits — to discuss pressing issues like audience engagement, newsroom culture, revenue sustainability and trust. About 93% of impact survey respondents say our products, programs and research are essential to supporting news organizations.

Behind those numbers lies a deep commitment to not only supporting news organizations but also helping them learn from one another through our convenings, conversations and experiments. We’ve focused on the hard topics like rural journalism, mental health and fostering collaboration and belonging.

And at a time when journalism is under pressure on several fronts, we are proud of our emphasis on helping news organizations deepen their relationships with their communities.

As our CEO Michael Bolden writes in this year’s report, we believe local news is at the heart of an informed and engaged democracy. So we will continue our work with energy and determination to help news organizations ensure a deep connection between journalism and civic life.

The whole team at API expresses gratitude to the industry, news organizations and news leaders who have trusted us with their growth, and we invite you to join us in helping to shape the future of journalism. Please reach out if you’d like to connect with us.

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Center for Public Integrity is shutting down (CJR) 

The 36-year-old Center for Public Integrity is shutting down and is now in talks with the Project on Government Oversight to house its archives, writes Sewell Chan. The organization has done prize-winning accountability journalism but in the past year has “essentially collapsed,” Chan writes. Said Paul Cheung, a former executive of the center: “CPI’s challenges reflected a broader pattern across legacy newsrooms — an attachment to practices that no longer matched the needs of the people we aimed to serve.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Q&A: Melissa Ludtke reflects on her path from cultural footnote to journalism icon (Poynter)

Melissa Ludtke, a sports reporter who sued Major League Baseball in 1977 after being banned from the New York Yankees locker room, has written a new book, “Locker Room Talk.” Peter Croatto talked to her for a Q-and-A about the meaning of her court victory all these years later, why she waited until now to write it and the current environment for women in sportswriting.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Most Americans say they are tuned in to news about the Trump administration (Pew Research Center) 

With the second Trump administration dramatically reshaping the government and U.S. foreign policy, about seven out of 10 U.S. adults say they are following Trump news very or fairly closely, a new Pew Research Center survey concludes. Four in 10 say they are paying more attention to political news since Trump took office. The report also explores the public’s views of the relationship between the media and the Trump administration.

Related: Vox sees boom in readers paying for explainer journalism under Trump 2 (Press Gazette)

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Publishers grapple with Q1 ad revenue challenges in a ‘buyer’s market’ (Digiday)

The first quarter of the year is typically a slow period for ad revenue, but it’s been especially tough this year, Sara Guaglione writes, based on comments from executives who attended a recent Digiday Publishing Summit. One publishing exec said advertisers are “very timid” in spending. It remains to be seen, she wrote, what this means for the rest of the year.

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What else you need to know

5️⃣ Five things journalists need to hear right now (Project C)

🔍 How investigative journalists actually find fraud, waste and abuse (ProPublica)

📺  MSNBC loses its election night guru in network shakeup (The Daily Beast)

💔John Thornton, venture capitalist and founder of the Texas Tribune, dies at 59 (American Journalism Project)

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