Local philanthropist and owner of Philadelphia's two largest newspapers H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest has endorsed the control of the Philadelphia Media Network, which houses The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and the joint website Philly.com, to a new nonprofit organization, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The new nonprofit, dubbed the Institution for Journalism in New Media, is set to take full control of the operations of the two media outlets and their joint website. In order for the operations of the new nonprofit to start, Lenfest has stated that he will be donating $20 million to endow the new nonprofit.
Despite the endorsement, however, Lenfest pledged that the newsroom would still continue in its tradition of producing independent public service journalism and investigative reporting. He further stated that the newsroom would also be focusing on producing innovative multimedia content, reports The San Francisco Gate.
With the shift, the Philadelphia Media Network has been converted to a public benefit corporation, and is set to fully operate independently as a taxable subsidiary of the new nonprofit organization.
"My goal is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed," Lenfest said in a statement, according to The Nonprofit Times.
Philadelphia's two big newspapers have garnered a significant number of awards in the past, with The Inquirer winning 20 Pulitzer prizes for excellence in journalism, most recently the 2014 award for criticism, and the Daily News winning three, inlcuding the 2010 prize for investigative journalism.
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