Ford Foundation Grant to The Los Angeles Times

From: Davan Maharaj  
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 12:25:26 -0700  
To: yyeditall  
Subject: Ford Foundation Grant to The Los Angeles Times

Comrades:

In these tough economic times, we don’t get to crow very often about significant additions to our staff, so please excuse my enthusiasm over a piece of great news.

The Los Angeles Times has been awarded a $1.04-million, two-year Ford Foundation grant to support additional reporters in the newsroom. The new staff members will focus on specific beats: immigration and ethnic communities in Southern California, the California prison system, the Southwest border region and one of the most important international stories in our region, Brazil. These are vital coverage areas that have been affected by our need to make tough choices in the past decade. Although the grant is for two years, we intend to continue with these beats beyond that period. We will immediately start our search for reporters.

The grant comes with no strings attached. We have complete control over editorial content and are free to pursue whatever stories we deem appropriate.

The grant is part of a new initiative by the Ford Foundation to increase coverage of issues involving inequality, injustice and disparity. Although the foundation has supported research and reporting projects in the past, this grant is among its first that directly supports a private media organization. To avoid any conflict of interest, the money will be paid from a portfolio separate from the foundation’s other grant programs.

It’s a wonderful opportunity. Our journalism--and our readers--will be better for it. --Davan  

SOURCE: Kevin Roderick