The Selma Sun and the Black Belt News Network have received a major national grant to strengthen democracy by closing gaps in local news coverage in the Black Belt of Alabama.
Kingfisher Media LLC, the company that owns the Selma Sun and BBNN, has received a $100,000 Press Forward grant to be paid over two years to support reporting in underserved communities in the rural Black Belt region. Kingfisher Media is owned by Cindy Fisher, who also serves as publisher of the Sun and BBNN.
The grant was announced Wednesday, Oct. 16 by Press Forward, a project of The Miami Foundation.
“Press Forward is a national movement to strengthen our democracy by revitalizing local news and information,” the announcement said. “A coalition of funders is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive.”
Our newsroom is one of 205 small, local news outlets – including one in every U.S. state – to receive a share of $20 million to close persistent coverage gaps, thanks to funding from Press Forward, thenationwide movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. More than 900 news agencies across the country applied for the Press Forward grant.
Fisher said BBNN will use the grant to add staff, including freelancers, videographers and documenters, to bring much-needed news and information to an area that is underserved by print and especially by online news agencies.
“With more resources, the Black Belt News Network will be able to attend events, government meetings, and sports games to help us reach more of our rural audience that is spread out within the Black Belt,” Fisher said. “We currently cover six counties, but we would like to reach up to 14 counties that are not getting consistent news coverage online or in print.”
Since she took over the Selma Sun six years ago, the newspaper has won more than 25 first-place awards in the Alabama Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The paper won a national award for the best crisis reporting for its coverage of the January 2023 tornado that struck Selma.
Many of the awards have been for online coverage, including the area’s only weekly live news broadcast hosted by Fisher and staff writer Todd Prater.
The Black Belt News Network and Selma Sun have a strong presence on social media, with a reach of 100,000 on Facebook and Instagram, and more than 1,000 that receive a daily newsletter with headlines. The agencies also have a fiscal sponsorship with the Tiny News Collective and are able to take tax-deductible donations and receive grants.
Match this grant with sustaining funds to help Black Belt News Network keep news free without a paywall, go here.
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