Amid all the hand-wringing over Sinclair Broadcasting chairman David Smith buying the Baltimore Sun, hardly anyone mentioned that he did it in partnership with Black businessman Armstrong Williams, who is now the first African American to own a major metropolitan newspaper since Bob Maynard bought and revitalized the Oakland Tribune four decades ago.

Like Smith, Williams is a conservative, but in an interview, he describes newsroom independence as a core value and pledges that Sun reporters will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead – even if they lead to the disparagement of Donald Trump.

Tune in for a compelling conversation between Armstrong and Tracie Powell, The Pivot Fund founder and CEO.

About The Pivot Fund

The Pivot Fund is a new venture philanthropy organization dedicated to investing $500 million into independent BIPOC-led community news outlets through grantmaking, development support, and strategic consulting. For more information on The Pivot Fund, visit thepivotfund.org.

Who do you need on your team? The hiring process can be daunting, and making the right choices about who to bring on board and when can have a major impact on your newsroom. Zuri Berry, The Baltimore Banner's digital strategy editor; Lisa Snowden, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Baltimore Beat; Susan Gluck Pappajohn, a talent and organizational strategy consultant; and Madeleine Bair, founding director of El Tímpano, shared their experience and approach to growing their teams, tips to secure funding, and more.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Introducing ‘Leavers’: results from a survey of 101 former journalists of color: https://source.opennews.org/articles/introducing-leavers-results-survey/
• Toward equitable models of journalism sustainability: https://www.eltimpano.org/inside-el-timpano/toward-equitable-models-of-journalism-sustainability/
• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com
• Lion Publishers: https://www.lionpublishers.com
• Institute for Nonprofit News (INN): https://inn.org

This conversation was sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

--

The Pivot Fund is a new venture philanthropy organization dedicated to investing $500 million into independent BIPOC-led community news outlets through grantmaking, development support, and strategic consulting. For more information on The Pivot Fund, visit thepivotfund.org.

In the latest Pivot Publisher Series episode, The Kansas City Defender’s Ryan Sorrell, AfroLA’s Dana Amihere, and Haitian Times’ Garry Pierre-Pierre share innovative strategies to reach Black audiences and share news they can use, including impactful community-based programs, surveys, and social media strategies. The founders also delve into the (sometimes complicated) relationship between digital startups and traditional legacy news with examples of what and how they can learn from one another. This episode is thoughtfully moderated by The Pivot Fund CEO Tracie Powell and sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

The Pivot Fund is a new venture philanthropy organization dedicated to investing $500 million into independent BIPOC-led community news outlets through grantmaking, development support, and strategic consulting.

For more information on The Pivot Fund, visit www.thepivotfund.org.