The New York Times has raised $4 million for a philanthropy backed journalism initiative called Headway that will go beyond the daily news cycle to produce “deeply researched, visually ambitious, data-rich projects” on major economic, social, and environmental issues.
You might ask, isn’t this what The Times already does?
Yes, but in this case the stories will be distributed for free and Headway, founded by The Times’ former architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, aims to “pioneer an online public square, focused on community-building, transparency, engagement and data dissemination.”
The effort is also designed to help seed similar efforts at the local level. According to a company release, “each cycle, a reporting fellow from The New York Times Fellowship will spend one year working on stories for Headway, then spend a second year at a local news organization,” with The Times’ philanthropic funders picking up the cost.
