San Antonio’s information ecosystem got a shakeup Tuesday as its two of its highest-profile outlets revealed plans to combine into the city’s largest nonprofit newsroom.
Nonprofit news site the San Antonio Report will donate its assets to Texas Public Radio on July 1, officials said Tuesday. After the combination, each newsroom will continue to operate under its own brand while selectively sharing content. No layoffs are expected.
However, over coming months, the combined entity will develop a long-term integration plan that’s likely to reshape how the newsrooms operate and share resources, officials said. Those decisions also could affect its future branding.
“This is about strengthening local journalism; it’s about creating a sustainable model for this community,” San Antonio Report Publisher and CEO Angie Mock told the Current. “It’s not just to sustain, though, but also to grow — to better serve — our very fast-growing region.”
Officials with both organizations said the transaction is necessary as newsrooms nationwide shrink due to financial pressure and sweeping technological changes.
Today, there are just 3.6 journalists in San Antonio for every 100,000 residents, ranking the city No. 1,794 nationally, according to the Rebuild Local Journalism Index. That’s below the national average of 8 per 100,000.
To that end, the combined news organization will employ 31 journalists plus a similar number of support staff. Officials with the two outlets said their business operations run lean, meaning they won’t need to shed redundant positions.
“San Antonio deserves more journalists and a large nonprofit newsroom,” TPR News Director Dan Katz said. “We don’t take that responsibility lightly, so we really want to take the time with the transition to do it right and get the input of all the great people on our staff.”
TPR President and CEO Ashley Alvarado will lead the new organization, while Mock will transition into a gifts-officer role for the next year or so. San Antonio Report Editor-in-Chief Leigh Munsil will serve as editor-in-chief and senior vice president of news.
The boards of the two nonprofits have periodically spoken about joining forces, but those talks kicked into high gear around the middle of last year, Mock said.
That’s around the time the Republican-controlled Congress axed $1.1 billion in funding already allocated to public broadcasting stations, including TPR. The move left hundreds of TV and radio outlets, especially in rural areas, scrambling to maintain operations.
Officials with the two organizations said they’re eyeing successful nonprofit newsrooms such as CalMatters, Denverite and LAist as models for their path forward.
“We’re both sustainable on our own, but we’re even more complementary together,” Katz said.
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