We are living through a time of extreme transition in the world of news and media. In the last several months alone, we’ve seen the demise of BuzzFeed News; the bankruptcy filing of Vice Media; significant layoffs at Meta, Twitter, NPR, Paper Magazine, ESPN, The Washington Post, Spotify, and Vox; and continuing drastic cuts in local newsrooms across the country. At the same time, the bounds of what is and is not news and media has changed. We used to get news from Walter Cronkite or by picking up a physical newspaper. Now we encounter a myriad of formats from even more sources — and, at times, it is indistinguishably mixed with entertainment, opinion, and misinformation. Meanwhile, the rise of AI chatbots and generative AI has raised hopes — and fears — about the future of news creation and delivery. We are living in a time where the range and volume of information and news available is overwhelming, and yet so many communities and constituencies appear dramatically underserved.

​This report seeks to support new efforts and reimaginings of existing enterprises that have the potential to get more higher-quality news to millions of Americans, particularly in geographies and among demographic groups that are underserved. It seeks to assess the disruption we're living through and evaluate how to overcome it — or take advantage of it — with new strategies around news production, distribution, and consumption.
The authors of and advisors to this report possess varied professional backgrounds, ranging from careers in political and issue advocacy or philanthropic backgrounds to hands-on media experience as reporters, media executives, or communications experts. Each of us has borne witness to significant changes in the media environment. We’ve run up against the limitations of current models as we’ve tried to advance ideas and policies; defend — and improve — American democracy; and, fundamentally, reach and engage people. We undertook this project to better understand why that might be the case, and to explore where there may be gaps and opportunities that we, or others, could begin to fill, as practitioners or investors.

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