States Newsroom

States Newsroom provides funding, human resources, and digital support to journalists in the state newsrooms.{{Cite web |last=Fu |first=Angela |date=2021-02-25 |title=Where state and local coverage are actually expanding |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2021/where-state-and-local-coverage-are-actually-expanding/ |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=Poynter |language=en-US}} It typically has 4-6 journalists per newsroom and allows its articles to be republished for free under a Creative Commons license.

States Newsroom accepts no corporate donations and has publicly shared the names of all donors contributing $1,000 or more since becoming a 501(c)(3) in 2019.{{cite news |last1=Fischer |first1=Sara |date=June 11, 2024 |title=Dark money news outlets outpacing local daily newspapers |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/06/11/partisan-news-websites-dark-money |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705120501/https://www.axios.com/2024/06/11/partisan-news-websites-dark-money |archive-date=July 5, 2024 |access-date=12 June 2024 |publisher=Axios |quote=These types of websites are often referred to as 'pink slime,' a term that originated in the ground beef industry. The term has been used for more than a decade to describe politically motivated websites masquerading as independent local news outlets... Some of the more strategic sites are run by groups that are more much explicit about their funding and motives, such as Courier Newsroom and States Newsroom.}}{{Cite web |title=Supporters • States Newsroom |url=https://statesnewsroom.com/support/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=States Newsroom |language=en-US}} The progressive Wyss Foundation gave $1 million to States Newsroom in 2020.{{cite news |last1=Vogel |first1=Kenneth P. |last2=Robertson |first2=Katie |date=13 April 2021 |title=Top Bidder for Tribune Newspapers Is an Influential Liberal Donor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/business/media/wyss-tribune-company-buyer.html |access-date=12 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |quote=States Newsroom, a group of news sites based in state capitals, received $1 million from the Wyss Foundation last year. NewsGuard, a media watchdog that analyzes the credibility of news outlets, concluded that State Newsroom’s journalism had been 'bought by people with a political agenda.'}}

States Newsroom's commentary and opinion pieces are clearly-labeled and generally lean left. The organization does not allow opinion pieces from candidates or political officeholders. Many, but not all, of the organization's larger donors also lean left. States Newsroom did not disclose its donors until 2020, when it started disclosing the names of all donors giving more than $1,000 since becoming a 501(c)(3) in 2019. In August 2020, Inside Philanthropy reported that Google was one of the funders of States Newsroom.

In 2023, the Pew Charitable Trusts transferred its Stateline news service, which provides nonpartisan reporting on trends in state policy, to States Newsroom with $3 million to help with the transition.

As of 2024, it reported having 220 full-time employees, with an annual budget of more than $22 million. It grew from five affiliates upon its 2019 launch to 39 freestanding newsrooms at 11 partner outlets covering all 50 states by early 2024.

{{Template:Hatnote|Individual news outlets affiliated with States Newsroom redirect here.}}

In July 2019, States Newsroom had 13 outlets, nine of which were in swing states. As of 2024, States Newsroom had newsrooms in 39 states under its umbrella and the nationwide Stateline newsroom. In the other 11 states, States Newsroom syndicates content from independent nonprofit newsrooms such as CalMatters, CT Mirror,{{Cite web |last=Pettit |first=Emelia |date=2024-07-12 |title=Opinion: How Connecticut is leading the charge in sustainable wind energy |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/connecticut-leading-charge-sustainable-wind-091554038.html |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}} Honolulu Civil Beat, Mississippi Today,{{Cite web |last=Harrison |first=Bobby |date=2024-07-05 |title=Mississippi judge blocks Biden attempt to ensure LGBTQ+ medical treatment • Nebraska Examiner |url=https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/07/05/mississippi-judge-blocks-biden-attempt-to-ensure-lgbtq-medical-treatment/ |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=Nebraska Examiner |language=en-US}} New York Focus, and the Texas Tribune.

In May 2024, editor Brian Lyman of the States Newsroom's outlet in Alabama, the Alabama Reflector, was selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.{{Cite web |last=Castillo |first=Amaris |date=2024-05-06 |title=Small newsrooms won big in the 2024 Pulitzers |url=https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2024/lookout-santa-cruz-invisible-institute-city-bureau-pulitzer-winners/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Poynter |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2024-05-06 |title=Pulitzer Prizes: 2024 Winners List |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/business/pulitzer-prize-winners.html |access-date=2024-08-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Shafiq |first=Saman |title=2024 Pulitzer Prizes announced: See full list of winners, nominees |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/06/2024-pulitzer-prize-winners/73586236007/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Benton |first=Joshua |date=May 7, 2024 |title=This year's Pulitzer Prizes were a coming-out party for online media — and a marker of local newspapers' decline |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/05/this-years-pulitzer-prizes-were-a-coming-out-party-for-online-media-and-a-marker-of-local-newspapers-decline/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Nieman Lab |quote=(The finalist recognition for the Alabama Reflector, a States Newsroom site, must feel extra sweet, given that some still misguidedly label it and its siblings as so-called “pink slime” news sites.)}} Lyman was recognized "[f]or brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer."{{Cite web |title=Finalist: Brian Lyman of the Alabama Reflector |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/brian-lyman-alabama-reflector |website=The Pulitzer Prizes}}

Iowa Capital Dispatch was the first to report a lawsuit against a local Tyson pork-processing plant for work conditions during COVID-19.{{Cite web |last=Fu |first=Angela |date=2021-02-25 |title=Where state and local coverage are actually expanding |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2021/where-state-and-local-coverage-are-actually-expanding/ |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=Poynter |language=en-US}}

Given its history of "dark money" funding and left-leaning editorial boards, some have questioned the partisanship of States Newsroom's journalism.{{Cite web |last=Sohm |first=Joseph |date=2019-11-08 |title=News Websites with Political Ties Spread Across Michigan |url=https://www.governing.com/news/headlines/news-websites-with-political-ties-spread-across-michigan.html |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=Governing |language=en |quote=States Newsroom’s ethics policy states its publications are nonpartisan. Fitzsimon said the editorial board is “on the liberal side," drawing a comparison with The New York Times.}} In January 2020, Steven Brill of NewsGuard asked States Newsroom to reveal their donors—which the organization did later that year.{{Cite web |date=January 29, 2020 |title=States Newsroom Network |url=https://www.newsguardtech.com/feedback/publisher/states-newsroom-network/ |access-date=2024-08-10 |website=NewsGuard |language=en-US |quote=While we respect NewsGuard’s mission, we are concerned that as a for-profit startup they have adopted a flawed methodology that punishes innovative, fact-based organizations such as ours, while endorsing the work of outlets that promote conspiracy theories and white nationalism such as Breitbart, the Daily Caller, TheBlaze and FoxNews.com. We urge NewsGuard to update their methodology and use their platform to stand up for real journalism and hold those who spread hate and misinformation accountable.}} But in 2021 after accepting a $1 million donation from the progressive Wyss Foundation, NewsGuard said their journalism was "bought by people with a political agenda". A June 2024 NewsGuard study continued to categorize State Newsroom as a partisan outlet designed to look apolitical.{{Cite web |title=Sad Milestone: Fake Local News Sites Now Outnumber Real Local Newspaper Sites in U.S |url=https://www.newsguardtech.com/press/sad-milestone-fake-local-news-sites-now-outnumber-real-local-newspaper-sites-in-u-s/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=NewsGuard |language=en-US}} In June 2024, Axios called States Newsroom "one of the more strategic" of the "politically motivated websites masquerading as independent local news outlets."

Other media watchers have disputed accusations of partisanship and noted the caliber of the journalists and relative autonomy from the national organization. In 2020, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism listed but then retracted adding the newsrooms as "hyperpartisan" in a map.{{cite news |last1=Shumway |first1=Julia |date=July 24, 2020 |title=Partisan groups spend big to deliver 'news' |url=https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/07/24/partisan-groups-spend-big-to-deliver-news/ |access-date=October 22, 2020 |newspaper=Arizona Capitol Times}}{{cite news |last1=Mahone |first1=Jessica |last2=Napoli |first2=Philip |date=July 13, 2020 |title=Hundreds of hyperpartisan sites are masquerading as local news. This map shows if there's one near you. |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/hundreds-of-hyperpartisan-sites-are-masquerading-as-local-news-this-map-shows-if-theres-one-near-you/ |access-date=October 22, 2020 |work=Nieman Lab}} In 2023, Nieman noted the experience of the journalists and in 2024 called NewsGuard's depiction of States Newsroom "misguided." In April 2024, Cameron Joseph wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review that the outlets "are nothing like the 'pink slime' organizations that pass off partisan propaganda as local news. Many of the journalists running the local newsrooms... had previously been at major state newspapers" and that reporters and editors were largely autonomous from the national operation.

At a November 2020 press conference, Missouri Governor Mike Parson refused to take a question from a Missouri Independent reporter, saying "I am not going to respond to a c4 out of Virginia that is absolutely a propaganda news agency." According to PolitiFact, the Missouri Independent is a legitimate news organization, a 501(c)(3), and "not a website peddling hoaxes."

• Chalkbeat, another group of nonprofit newsrooms that publish under a Creative Commons license
• Courier Newsroom
• Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of U.S. nonprofit journalism organizations, including many of the nonprofits that partner with States Newsroom

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• {{Official website}}
• {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|842113822}}
• [https://stateline.org/ Stateline.org]

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Category:American journalism organizations

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Category:Organizations established in 2019

Category:Progressive organizations in the United States

Category:2019 establishments in the United States

Category:Nonprofit newspapers