From Journalism to Information: The Transformation of the Knight Foundation and News Innovation

Abstract

Amid the digital disruption for journalism, the U.S.-based Knight Foundation has made a highly publicized effort to shape the nature of news innovation. This growing influence raises questions about what it is trying to accomplish for mass communication and society. This qualitative case study shows how and why the Knight Foundation has sought to change journalism by renegotiating its boundaries. Namely, by downplaying its own historical emphasis on professionalism, the foundation has embraced openness to outside influence—for example, the wisdom of the crowd, citizen participation, and a broader definition of “news.” These rhetorical adaptations have paralleled material changes in the foundation's funding process, typified by the Knight News Challenge innovation contest. In recent times, the foundation has undergone a further evolution from “journalism” to “information.” By highlighting its boundary-spanning interest in promoting “information” for communities, the Knight Foundation has been able to expand its capital and influence as an agent of change among fields and funders beyond journalism.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks Stephen D. Reese and the anonymous reviewers at Mass Communication & Society for their helpful feedback on this article. He also gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Mass Communication & Society Research Award, given by the Mass Communication & Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2009.

Notes

¹It should be noted that the foundation does not fund only journalism initiatives. From its earliest days, the Knight Foundation has distributed its funding among several priority categories, including communities, culture, and education. In terms of overall grant outlays, only about one fourth of Knight's funding had gone to journalism during the foundation's first 50 years, according to the 1999 annual report. Nevertheless, there is little question that Knight, as a brand, remains most powerful in the journalism field, where, the same report noted, it is “synonymous with excellence” (p. 21).

²Annual reports for 1999 through 2007 are available from http://www.issuu.com/knightfoundation/docs.

³Newton (2010) drew upon this phrase popularized by Rosen (2006).

⁴Although the Knight Foundation has retained control over choosing the winners of its challenge contests, by virtue of this prize philanthropy model it nevertheless has opened up the proposal process to a wider set of ideas and potential applicants—beyond the familiar institutions that traditionally received Knight Foundation grants.

⁵For more information on the annual Media Learning Seminar, see http://www.knightfoundation.org/media-learning-seminar/.

⁶This contrasts with the Freedom Forum, which didn't mind “communication” in the academy as long as “journalism” was still given a distinct place (C. Overby, personal communication, c. 1999).

⁷To learn more about the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy and its 2009 report, visit http://www.knightcomm.org.

⁸In their study of “creative philanthropy,” Anheier and Leat (2006) included Knight among nine foundations they profiled, because it “operates in a fast-changing field in which many threads and opportunities are present and frequently collide … its grant-making program is informed by a passion for free press and democracy, and its activities are characterized by tenacity and risk-taking.” Moreover, “it is also a story of a foundation that is rooted in local communities while pursuing national and increasingly international agendas” (p. 163).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seth C. Lewis

Seth C. Lewis (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2010) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. His research interests include the sociology of journalism and technology. His present work investigates the boundary work of journalists and computer programmers.