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The Center for Public Integrity, one of many oldest and most storied nonprofit newsrooms within the United States, is contemplating merging with a competitor or shutting down amid turmoil in its prime ranks and monetary difficulties which have considerably sapped its reserves, in response to two folks with data of the group’s interior workings.
The nonprofit fell about $2.5 million in need of its funds purpose of round $6 million for 2023, in response to the 2 folks, who would converse solely anonymously to guard their relationships throughout the group.
This month, Paul Cheung, the group’s chief govt, resigned after an worker accused him of unethical conduct. The board additionally eradicated the place of its editor in chief, Matt DeRienzo, who has left the nonprofit.
In an announcement, the Center for Public Integrity mentioned it had a “financially challenged previous 12 months” like many different nonprofit media organizations.
“The board stays dedicated to C.P.I. and its important mission, and is working arduous to find out one of the best ways ahead for our journalism,” the nonprofit mentioned in an announcement. In an announcement, Mr. Cheung denied wrongdoing.
The monetary peril dealing with the Center for Public Integrity threatens to extinguish a newsroom of about 30 journalists that has watchdogged highly effective establishments for many years. Much of its funding has come from foundations keen on supporting investigative journalism, together with the Knight Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
As its reserves dwindle, its board of administrators is considering drastic motion to deal with the state of affairs. The Center for Public Integrity explored a possible mixture this 12 months with The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that publishes investigations about know-how, however it by no means got here to fruition. The group has additionally sought reductions to its 2024 funds, three folks conversant in the discussions mentioned.
Many newsrooms have fallen on arduous occasions amid a tough marketplace for promoting and subscriptions. Several, together with The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, have laid off employees.
Founded by the investigative journalist Chuck Lewis in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity has received quite a few awards for its journalism, together with the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for an investigation right into a rigged system depriving coal miners of well being care advantages. In the final 12 months, it received an Edward R. Murrow award for normal excellence.
Along the best way, it pioneered a mannequin for investigative reporting that served as a template for the subsequent era of nonprofit newsrooms. Over the subsequent three a long time, a number of nonprofits — together with ProfessionalPublica and the Marshall Project — adopted in its footsteps.
“C.P.I. was an important information group within the formation of recent nonprofit information,” mentioned Richard Tofel, the previous president of ProfessionalPublica. “What Chuck Lewis actually innovated was a devoted employees that will do long-form investigative work supposed to spur widespread protection within the hope of producing change.”
Before Mr. Cheung resigned, he was the main focus of a human assets grievance that included a Slack message he despatched to a different worker saying they wanted to “fudge some $$$” for a presentation to a basis. After the message was flagged to human assets, the grievance mentioned, Mr. Cheung edited his message to say “clarify some $$$,” which the grievance mentioned was “a major change to change the which means and intent of his writing.”
Mr. Cheung, in an announcement, denied misrepresenting the nonprofit’s financials to its employees, board and companions. He added that he had “diligently labored to make sure the group’s sustainability.”
“C.P.I. is dealing with lots of the identical financial headwinds that lots of our friends have been coping with because the pandemic,” he wrote.
The Center for Public Integrity regarded into the incident and located no proof of economic impropriety, in response to an individual conversant in the state of affairs.
Employees have additionally expressed dissatisfaction with the nonprofit’s lack of communication about monetary instability and its marketing strategy. In a December letter to the nonprofit’s board, its employees mentioned morale was low throughout a number of departments due to declining belief that led to “a rift between our C.E.O. and editorial staff.”
“That breakdown is main us down a catastrophic path, each financially and culturally,” the letter learn.
Several nonprofit newsrooms have explored mergers lately to bolster their journalism and make a extra compelling pitch to potential funders. In December, Mother Jones mentioned it was combining with the Center for Investigative Reporting, an investigative information group co-founded by Lowell Bergman, a former “60 Minutes” investigative producer.
