The news media has taken a hard hit in today’s faltering economy. For almost a decade, traditional print media has been losing readership to online news sources that can provide up-to-the-minute information, often at no charge. Those of us who work closely with the media see first-hand the impact of fewer and fewer reporters struggling to cover the news. More than ever, they rely on wire sources and focus only on breaking news and the most mainstream stories of the day. This is especially true for “niche” journalists, such as those covering the healthcare industry.

But there’s a new game in town. One that could be the next breakthrough concept in healthcare journalism, a development as potentially disruptive as CNN’s audacious debut as the first all-news TV channel.

It’s called “foundation-supported journalism,” and its mission is to provide quality, in-depth coverage of important health policy issues. Consider Kaiser Health News, an independent news service funded by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Stories produced by KHN will be provided free to newspapers around the country and will also be posted on a KHN website, which is scheduled to go live later this spring. Services such as KHN are becoming increasingly attractive to top tier journalists, many of whom are leaving their print media careers to embark upon this new media venture.

The California HealthCare Foundation also funded a six-month pilot news service covering healthcare in California. The Center for California Health Care Journalism, as it’s known, is currently overseen by Michael Parks, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California and a former editor of The Los Angeles Times. There’s also a venture funded by the Sandler Foundation, ProPublica, which was established in 2007 and is dedicated to quality investigative journalism of stories with moral force.

For more information about foundation-supported journalism, follow this link.

Will foundations be the vehicle to preserve quality journalism in the future? It appears that they will be a welcome addition to the evolving news environment.

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