The Narwhal has been accepted as a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News — becoming the institute’s only publisher based in Canada.

The institute — headquartered in California — is a network of nearly 200 newsrooms that produce journalism in the public interest. Members include well-established investigative journalism outlets such as ProPublica, the Center for Investigative Reporting, Mother Jones and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

“It’s an incredible honour to be named among so many non-profit heavyweights, doing some of the most important investigative journalism in the United States,” Carol Linnitt, co-founder and managing editor of The Narwhal, said.

All members of the Institute for Nonprofit News produce high-quality original news reporting and adhere to standards of editorial independence and financial transparency. In 2018, the institute’s members had a total estimated staff of about 3,000 — including nearly 2,200 journalists — and combined annual revenue approaching $350 million.

But the members also adhere to a brand of journalism that is increasingly rare in today’s media world — journalism that isn’t profit-driven.

While the non-profit news sector has flourished south of the border, there are few examples of thriving non-profit news outlets in Canada — in part due to differences in charitable law. In the U.S., funding journalism has long been viewed as a charitable activity, which has enabled large-scale philanthropic support for non-profit news.

In last month’s budget, Canada’s federal government announced a plan to allow eligible news organizations to earn qualified donee status, which will enable them to issue tax receipts and receive gifts from Canadian registered charities.

Launched in May 2018, The Narwhal receives support from more than 1,000 readers. In our first year, we have won four Canadian Online Publishing Awards and been nominated for three awards from the Canadian Association of Journalists.  

“As a publication that relies on donations from our readers, The Narwhal has had to reinvigorate that broken relationship between journalists and their audience,” Linnitt said. “The non-profit challenge is one that inherently drives us to reconnect with our readers to deliver the news in deeper and more meaningful ways.”

The Institute for Nonprofit News has a long history of supporting media outlets that cover critical but controversial topics like climate change, immigration, criminal justice and money and influence. The institute’s members consistently report on stories that are undercovered in traditional and legacy media outlets.

The Narwhal’s team of award-winning journalists are playing an important role in revitalizing public interest journalism in Canada, where non-profit outlets are few and far between.

Our investigations have revealed information about orphaned oil and gas wells, public funds given to secretive numbered companies, muzzling of scientists in the Trudeau era, companies escaping fines for breaking environmental laws and how mining companies avoid paying taxes and fees to the communities they operate in.

“It’s a privilege to be supported by Canadians to do this kind of impactful public interest journalism,” Linnitt said.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Much ink has been spilled over the Canadian government’s announcement of support for Canada’s struggling news media, valued at $600 million over five years.

There are valid concerns about the eligibility criteria, which will be crafted by a yet-to-be-determined committee. There are also concerns about the funds being wasted on propping up old business models and stifling innovation in the process.

But one thing that’s been largely lost in all the hand-wringing is one simple fact: journalism is a public good and at long last the Canadian government has recognized it as such.

“In short, strong and independent journalism serves the public good — for Canada, and for Canadians,” reads page 42 of the 158-page fall economic update.

The non-profit news sector has languished in Canada, while it has flourished in the U.S. and other countries around the world. Why? In large part because — until now — non-profit news organizations haven’t been qualified to receive charitable donations or issue tax receipts in Canada.

Meanwhile in the U.S., a robust non-profit news sector has emerged over the last decade.

That country is now home to more than 200 non-profit newsrooms, employing more than 2,000 journalists, according to the Institute for Nonprofit News’ 2018 Index. All have charitable status, publish original reporting and are committed to standards of editorial independence and transparency.

Take The Centre for Investigative Reporting, for instance. It has a budget of more than $10 million a year and employs nearly 80 people. ProPublica operates at a similar scale. And in 2013, InsideClimateNews won a Pulitzer Prize for its work.

Philanthropic foundations in the U.S. are pouring millions into journalism, while philanthropic support for journalism in Canada exists only in isolated pockets, from rare funders willing to forgo the tax benefits of giving away money.

Even some of America’s large daily newspapers are converting to a non-profit model. All of this is made possible because journalism is seen as a charitable endeavour in the U.S.

Meanwhile in the Great White North, I can count Canada’s non-profit news organizations — including The Narwhal — on one hand.

But that’s likely to change after the government’s announcement of a trio of measures to help sustain professional journalism.

New rules could prompt non-profit revitalization

One part of the government’s plan is to introduce a new category of qualified donee for non-profit journalism organizations. This means news organizations like The Narwhal will be able to issue tax receipts to readers who make donations. It also means we’ll be able to accept donations directly from charities.

Being a “qualified donee” does not mean actually becoming a registered charity (which would require re-writing Canada’s law around charitable purposes) — it is a status reserved for special situations. Municipalities and amateur athletic associations are also “qualified donees,” for instance.

La Presse, Canada’s largest French daily newspaper, moved to become a non-profit entity earlier this year. And the Globe and Mail is already musing about creating a non-profit arm.

Becoming qualified donees makes journalists no more beholden to the government than any municipality or amateur athletic association is.

The other two measures announced by the federal government are a refundable tax credit to support labour costs associated with original news content creation and a new temporary non-refundable tax credit to support subscriptions to Canadian digital news media.

It’s the tax credit for labour costs that has become a significant target of backlash.

Paul Willcocks at The Tyee makes a compelling case that it would be problematic for the bulk of the federal assistance to flow to corporate news organizations, such as Postmedia whose CEO Paul Godfrey’s total compensation was more than $5 million last year.

“By prolonging the agony — and not letting Postmedia and the other corporations deal with market forces — the federal funding could in fact hurt innovative outlets trying to find an audience and funding in a crowded landscape,” argues Willcocks.

I agree that the tax credits for labour costs could easily be misspent on propping up the big players (although some have already recommended thoughtful ways to avoid this). At the same time, I think allowing non-profit news organizations of all shapes and sizes (including legacy outlets) to receive charitable money is in the public good, so long as there’s transparency around where the funding is coming from.

Spurring innovation, collaboration

Opening up philanthropic funding for news in Canada will require innovation on the part of traditional players (they have to attract the donations, after all) and may well spawn more co-operation between start-ups and established outlets, which benefits everyone.

Funders are known for encouraging collaboration between groups, which may help ease some of journalism’s traditional competitiveness and pave the way to more partnerships. Again, this is something we’ve seen south of the border, with projects like The Investigative Fund partnering with diverse news outlets such as The New York Times, VICE, The Rolling Stone and The Intercept. This type of co-operation is exceedingly rare in Canada.

Looking to the future, it’s not unlikely, for instance, that The Narwhal’s in-depth and investigative environmental reporting could be shared among other publishers, including legacy publishers like The Globe and Mail — which would be a much more efficient use of limited resources than us each battling away in individual fiefdoms.

Some people like to paint philanthropic funding for journalism as fundamentally tainted, but it’s certainly no more tainted than the widely accepted status quo.

The Institute for Nonprofit News in the U.S. has set standards to safeguard journalism from undue influence and ensure transparency around where funding comes from, which results in significantly more transparency than traditional business models that rely on investors and advertisers.

The success of the federal plan is going to be determined by the details — especially the composition of the committee, which will determine eligibility for all of the measures.

But the move to making non-profit news organizations eligible to accept charitable funding is a massive step forward for the future of news in Canada.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

A brief paragraph on page 186 of Tuesday’s federal budget held some of the best news for Canadian journalism in decades.

“Over the next year the government will be exploring new models that enable private giving and philanthropic support for trusted, professional, non-profit journalism and local news,” the budget read. “This could include new ways for Canadian newspapers to innovate and be recognized to receive charitable status for not-for-profit provision of journalism, reflecting the public interest that they serve.”

I had to read it three times to believe it. The alarm bells have been sounding on the state of Canadian media for, oh, about 50 years.

Take this humdinger of a quote: “Some newspapers dig. Some newspapers are a constant embarrassment to the powerful. Some manage to be entertaining, provocative and fair at the same time.There are a few such newspapers in Canada.”

That’s from a report issued in 1970 by the Special Senate Committee on Mass Media.

In the ensuing five decades things have become much worse. Canada has one of the most monopolized news landscapes in the world and since 2010, 225 weekly and 27 daily newspapers closed.

A handful of digital startups — DeSmog Canada, The Tyee, Press Progress, Discourse Media, the National Observer, The Conversation Canada, Canadaland, the Global Reporting Centre and Hakai Magazine — have fought an uphill battle to buck this trend.

Meanwhile, more than 150 non-profit journalism outlets are thriving in the United States, where donations in support of journalism are tax deductible.

Take the Centre for Investigative Reporting. It has a budget of more than $10 million and employs nearly 80 people. ProPublica operates at a similar scale. InsideClimate News has won a Pulitzer Prize for its work. Even some of America’s large daily newspapers have converted to a non-profit model.

Canada has one of the most monopolized news landscapes in the world. But that might change. https://t.co/kSKiqmPfy8

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) February 28, 2018

Philanthropic foundations, such as the Knight Foundation and MacArthur Foundation, have poured millions into journalism south of the border, but such philanthropic funding has been sorely lacking in Canada in part because, up until now, donations haven’t been tax deductible.

DeSmog Canada and others have been advocating for Canada to catch up by modernizing its charitable law. A report by the Public Policy Forum last year, The Shattered Mirror, recommended that Canada bring its charitable laws in line with Germany and the U.S. to allow for non-partisan, civic-function journalism.

And voila, now the federal government is committed to exploring these new models. Of course, the devil will be in the details.

For one thing, the word “newspaper” in this sentence could be a harbinger of trouble ahead: “This could include new ways for Canadian newspapers to innovate and be recognized to receive charitable status for not-for-profit provision of journalism, reflecting the public interest that they serve.”

Why only newspapers? Why not all public interest journalism? Perhaps it was a semantic slip? Only time will tell. But if Canada’s digital news leaders are left out of this promise, you can bet there will be noisy protest.

In addition to considering charitable status for news organizations, the government is offering $10 million a year to smaller, local news outlets in “underserved” communities. The funds will be distributed among local media through “one or more independent non-governmental organizations” but the organizations “will have full responsibility to administer the funds, respecting the independence of the press.”

How will the federal government define “local news?” And how exactly will the funds be distributed? Those are two big questions the government will need to answer in the next year.

In the meantime, at DeSmog Canada we’ll continue building out our reader-supporter journalism through our membership program. If you enjoy reading our independent journalism, please join nearly 200 other readers and become a member today.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.