Write about who owns your news organization and make sure it is easy to find. Consider adding it to your organization’s About Us page.

If you are in a position to draw attention to the independence of the decision making in your newsroom, do it. If you’re locally owned, make that clear.

Really spell it out. For example: If your station is an NBC affiliate, you don’t have any control over what happens on the “Today” show. Be transparent about what an affiliation means, but also be clear about the limitations. You could also provide information for how people can get in touch with shows you air but don’t have control of (like “Today” or “Good Morning America”). Take inspiration from this piece from our partners at WITF, explaining how an episode of Morning Edition comes together.  

If you’re able, get really clear about how you make money. We love this example from The Coloradoan, where they let readers know how vital subscriptions were by talking about their funding breakdown at the time.

It reads: About 60% of our revenue comes from advertising. The other 40% comes from subscriptions. To sustain the future of local news in Northern Colorado, we are dependent upon support from readers, like you. 

If you don’t have permission or the ability to talk specifically about the percentages of what funds your work, you could still share in more vague terms that you’re funded from a mix of revenue streams. Here’s an example from WITF: We rely on contributions from listeners, underwriting support from businesses, grants from foundations, and funding from both the state and federal governments.

We have sample language you can copy and use to explain your funding in this Trust Kit. Keep scrolling, or jump ahead to that section here.  

This reporting was made possible because of [name of grant and organization]. For decades, local news has faced significant struggles due to declining advertising revenue and decreased circulation. [Name of organization] is not immune to these financial struggles, so we’re grateful when organizations like [name] invest real dollars into ensuring we can provide critical information to our community. While we accept grants from philanthropic organizations, we maintain independence between editorial decisions and funding. That means that funders don’t sway the facts of the story, impact which people we talk to for our story or control what gets published. Learn more about how our organization is funded here, and if your budget allows, please consider financially supporting our work [here]. 

For decades, local news has faced significant struggles due to declining advertising revenue and decreased circulation and [name of organization] is not immune to these financial struggles. Ten years ago we used to have around XX journalists in our newsroom. Today, we only have XX journalists. We are continually prioritizing coverage based on our current capacity. If you think we’re missing an important story, please let us know by reaching out [here]. And, if your budget allows, consider supporting our work [here]. Your dollars go directly to helping ensure local journalists continue reporting on the topics most important to our community. 

Local news has faced significant struggles due to declining advertising revenue and decreased circulation. This bill would allocate [this much funding/support] for local news organizations in the state, including [name of your organization]. While our organization would likely financially benefit from this bill being passed, we remain committed to our ethical standard of maintaining independence between editorial decisions and funding. That means outside funding doesn’t influence *what* we cover or *how* we cover it. We’re committed to continually reporting the facts about this issue, despite the potential impact to us. Learn more about our ethics and funding [here] and if you spot a possible conflict of interest, let us know [here].  

Sponsored content: As part of our advertising offerings, we publish content produced by and paid for by outside organizations, or advertisers. This content is separate from the content our newsroom produces and doesn’t meet the same standards as our independent journalism. [Link here to an ethics page or policy if you have one!] We’ll always include a disclaimer in these stories acknowledging that it’s sponsored content and will clearly label this content with the word “Sponsored” in the headline. This is considered common practice in the advertising world, and the revenue from this content helps support our local journalism. For more about our sponsored content policy, head here. [Link to policies page.]

Underwritten content: This story/podcast/video was underwritten by [advertiser], meaning it was financially supported by [organization name]. Although this content was paid for by an outside organization, outside funders don’t have input or influence over this coverage. This content is produced by our local journalists and meets the standards of our independent journalism. [Link here to an ethics page or policy if you have one!] We’ll always include a disclaimer in these stories to be transparent that it’s been underwritten. When organizations underwrite content, it helps our news outlet ensure we can continue producing fair and independent coverage. Read more about our policy for underwritten content here. [Link]

It’s fair that people often think they can get the news elsewhere for free (because, most of the time, they can!). So why is yours worth paying for? What unique news do you offer to your community? How is your approach different? Is it deeper? More contextual? More focused? Based on staff expertise not available elsewhere? Or is it faster? Does it cover a wider area? Whatever your value proposition or competitive advantage is, explain it, and link to specific examples whenever possible. 

How will your news organization decide which content will be free and which content people will pay for? Is there a number of stories per week that will be marked subscriber-only? What if someone can’t pay for a subscription? Or what if there’s breaking news that impacts public safety? Get on the record with these answers publicly so your team can easily point to them when questions and complaints arise. 

Don’t try and play “gotcha” with your audience by avoiding labeling the stories or pretending there’s not a paywall — that likely won’t make anyone want to subscribe. Instead, clearly label any subscriber-only stories. Be mindful of how (or if) that label shows up on platforms beyond your website, like in a newsletter or on social media. 

It’s natural that most people think ads pay for the news, so explain where your money comes from and why you count on reader support. Talk about how ad revenue has decreased and how that’s put more importance on other revenue streams. (Find language you can copy and paste to explain this below in this Trust Kit). 

Although revenue streams are shifting, many newsrooms still heavily rely on advertising revenue to stay afloat. While most people know newsrooms make money from ads, they might not know advertising is separate from the newsroom, or that advertisers don’t have control over what the newsroom does or doesn’t cover. Share how you’ll disclose when you report on advertisers and that you’ll still be critical and pursue the facts. 

It’s also worth explaining the economic side of advertising to your audience, especially during times of economic hardship. Explain that when local businesses suffer, they spend less money on marketing and promotions. And when community members spend less on goods and services, businesses cancel their advertising budgets, which can greatly impact newsroom revenue. Explain that a surge of online website traffic or viewership is not likely to offset the decline of ad revenue, and that your organization’s finances typically reflect the state of the local economy. These explainers might work best when tied into asks for financial support from the public. (Jump ahead in this Trust Kit where we walk you through how to ask the public for support.)

In general, about two-thirds of our revenue comes from advertising and about one third from subscriptions. We charge advertisers for the ability to reach and engage with our audiences. Advertisers pay based on how many people their ads will reach and also how many people click on their ads. They want engaged users, not just a lot of eyeballs.  Our news organization’s finances typically reflect the state of the local economy. The bottom line is that surges in online traffic to our website are not likely to offset the decline in advertising revenue. That brings us to the other one third of our income: subscriptions. For us to continue to providing high-quality news to our community, we’re relying more than ever on your financial support. If your budget allows for it, please subscribe.

The vast majority of our revenue comes from advertising — xx% on air and xx% online. As news outlets have since the beginning of commercial media, we charge advertisers for the ability to reach our audiences. But it would take a dramatic shift in our broadcast ratings or online traffic to make a real difference in our overall revenue, and our decision making isn’t driven by chasing views. In addition, local advertising is extremely dependent on the local economy. When local businesses suffer, they often spend less money on marketing and promotions. When community members spend less on goods and services, businesses cancel their advertising budgets. The cancellation of just one big ad contract could cost us thousands of dollars a month. Our news organization’s finances typically reflect the state of the local economy.

In general, about xx% of our revenue comes from advertising and about xx% from donations/membership. We charge advertisers for the ability to reach and engage with our audiences. But local advertising is extremely dependent on the local economy, and even surges in online readership of our website don’t offset the decline in advertising revenue. That means we are more reliant than ever on your financial support to continue providing high-quality news for our community. If your budget allows for it, please sustain or increase your contribution.

We know some news outlets might intentionally sensationalize news stories for profit, but that’s not the case at [outlet name]. Yes, we do pay attention to which stories resonate most with you because our business model depends on our ability to provide coverage that is consistently interesting, useful and valuable to you. Part of the way we gauge that is by monitoring which stories get clicked on and shared most. However, it would take significant spikes in advertising (or ratings) to influence our overall revenue. And at [outlet name], revenue considerations simply do not take priority over meaningful public service.

We can’t assume people understand the ethical framework behind our work, the thoughtfulness of our decision making or the goals that drive us. We need to articulate them.

Here’s language you can copy and adapt: 

Many people are skeptical about the integrity and ethics of news outlets like us, and we don’t blame them. Historically, journalists haven’t always done the best job of being transparent about their own work  — and that’s why we’re so committed to doing things differently at [Org Name].

Our work is based on a foundation of ethical principles and values that drive our day-to-day decisions.

A few things we believe (customize these):

• Our commitment to accuracy.
• Our independence from political, financial and personal interests.
• One additional policy tied to ethics, transparency, etc.

Just as we hold other organizations to account in our reporting, we invite you to hold us accountable for staying true to these values and ethics  —  and if you value journalism that is truly transparent and answers to you, we have a favor to ask. [funding appeal]

Your audience doesn’t know where your money comes from. They don’t know how your business model has shifted, what revenue sources have dried up or emerged, or what percentage of your budget relies on community support. Sharing that information can help you tell a compelling story of why their support is vital to your ability to serve your community.

Here’s language you can copy and adapt: 

You probably know that our work would not be possible without [contributions / donations] from people like you. Today, as we ask for your financial support, we want to also share some information about why we rely on that support.

Our work is funded by several primary sources:

• xx% Members / donors
• xx% Large donations from individuals and foundations
• xx% Events
• xx% Advertising

As you might imagine, our primary expense is our staff. So one way to look at that breakdown is that of our xx member team, xx of them have their salaries paid by you, the people they aim to serve with their journalism. This revenue is extremely important to us, because it shows that the work we’re doing is valued by the people we do it for.

What do you cover better than anyone else? Articulate that commitment, with examples of previous coverage, the impact it has had on the community, and your goals moving forward.

Here’s language you can copy and adapt: 

Here at [Org name], we cover a lot of issues we feel are deeply important: X, Y, Z, and more. Today, we want to talk a little bit to you about our [topic] coverage.

Readers like you have told us in a multitude of ways how much you value stories around [topic]. These stories are highly read, with long engagement time — which tells us people aren’t just clicking headlines but are diving deep on [topic] stories. In our most recent annual audience survey, we heard that [topic] is something people turn to us for and see as highly valuable. And when people donate to us, we see [topic] cited time and again as what inspired them to give.

In addition, we see evidence that the coverage makes a difference. For example, XYZ.

We want to go even deeper on [topic] In the next year, we want to do [project] and investigate [issue], just to name a few things. (And we’ll continue to incorporate your questions and priorities . Share them anytime by responding to this email.) But we can’t do this work without your support.