News is Out, a queer media collaborative, has received $250,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to launch a research project to document the status of LGBTQ+ media in the U.S.

The LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project is in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, City University of New York’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Center for Community Media, and Local Media Foundation, which hosts News Is Out.

This funding is part of MacArthur’s Local News Program, with $20 million in grants announced this week. MacArthur launched the program last year with a commitment of at least $150 million in new grantmaking to local news over five years, and the potential of $25 million in additional impact investments. This latest round of grants brings the total committed to date to more than $90 million.

Read the full list of grantees here.

“Our grantmaking supports a range of organizations working to strengthen nascent and emerging local news ecosystems and their leaders, who innovate in these spaces, with tools, resources, and funding. This includes a cohort of legacy newsrooms pioneering new paths,” said Silvia Rivera, MacArthur’s director of local news. “These investments are part of a collective effort to ensure that local communities have steady access to reliable and trustworthy information.”

“LGBTQ+ media have often been left behind when it comes to new types of funding, in part because it’s difficult to quantify who and where we are,” said Tracy Baim, research lead and co-founder of Windy City Times, a member of the News is Out collaborative. Baim wrote a history of LGBTQ+ media, Gay Press, Gay Power, a decade ago. Since that time, many outlets have closed, but many new digital-first outlets have been launched. 

LGBTQ+-owned news organizations are essential to a healthy media ecosystem. The seven members of News Is Out are: Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco); Dallas Voice; Los Angeles Blade; Philadelphia Gay News; Tagg Magazine; Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.); and Windy City Times. News is Out will be adding affiliate members in early 2025.

A survey will go out soon to more than 150 local and national LGBTQ+ media. Focus groups and other research will continue through spring 2025. A final report and map will be out in summer 2025 and will be distributed to interested stakeholders—funders, advertisers, donors, readers, academics, and more.

Hanna Siemaszko is the research associate on the project. Penny Riordan, Local Media Association’s director of business strategy and partnerships, is overseeing the project. LGBTQ+ media outlets should contact newsisout@localmedia.org if they want to participate in the project.

About Local Media Association / Local Media Foundation

Local Media Association brings all media together to share, network, collaborate and more. More than 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital news organizations, and research and development partners engage with LMA as members or constituents of our programs. As a 501(c)(6) trade association, LMA is focused on the business side of local media. Its programs and labs focus on revenue growth and new business models. LMA helps local media companies develop their strategies via cutting-edge programs, conferences, webinars, research and training.

Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, serves as the innovation and transformation affiliate of LMA. Incorporating our four strategic pillars — business transformation, journalism funded by philanthropy, industry collaboration, and sustainability for publishers of color — LMF helps provide local media companies the strategies and resources for meaningful innovation and impactful journalism projects.