Company Profile

Company Description:

In 2021, a steering committee of local journalism, community and business leaders worked with the American Journalism Project to conduct a comprehensive statewide research study, working with 27 community ambassadors around Indiana and collecting input through text messaging and online surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Through the study, more than 1,000 Hoosiers across 79 counties said they needed more unbiased, fact-based information about their communities. Out of those findings, a coalition of organizations in and around Indiana, local community leaders, and the American Journalism Project, partnered to launch Free Press Indiana, a new nonprofit organization with a mission to fill information gaps in the state. The coalition, which includes 11 philanthropies, has raised almost $10 million for the organization so far, and has formed a search committee that is conducting an open search for a founding leadership team. FPI is governed by a board that is representative of Indiana’s diverse communities, inclusive of race and ethnicity, gender, and political perspectives. In December 2023, we launched our first newsroom, Mirror Indy, in Central Indiana. The newsroom boasts an innovative, community-focused structure, and works directly with residents to report on and elevate voices and stories from their own communities in addition to providing much-needed accountability and service journalism across critical topics. Mirror Indy is also home to the Indianapolis Documenters, a program that trains and pays residents to participate in news gathering. Through this and other efforts, Free Press Indiana is facilitating investments in journalism outlets around the state, and fostering collaboration among Indiana outlets to amplify local journalism for all Hoosiers, especially underserved communities. Information produced for communities by Free Press Indiana is free to access, and is available for republishing. Our newsrooms will work in partnership with a growing list of outlets to amplify and increase the volume of relevant, original local reporting available to all residents.