Report: Few editorial guidelines govern nonprofit media outlets

A new report by the American Press Institute finds there are very few written guidelines governing editorial independence of nonprofit media outlets. The API surveyed funders, nonprofit media outlets and commercial partners about the financing of nonprofit news and how it impacts reporting from those outlets. The results showed that there is little in the way of editorial “firewalls” that would limit a funder's influence on media coverage of specific topics of interest—a finding that could undermine the public's confidence in the independence of some nonprofit journalism.