Collective Action for the First Amendment

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Capital & Main Exposes Gala in Los Angeles, CA. I have mixed feelings about donors and foundation leaders — including myself — accepting awards for reasons that may be obvious, but I was all the same honored to receive their Philanthropy and Journalism Award for 2026. The other awardees were far more impressive, such as the “60 Minutes 7” who are out of a job after standing up for the principles of a free and independent press; Gustavo Arellano; and Nonny de la Peña.

This week, the same issues of press freedom were on full display, as the drama of three leading news outlets being barred from the White House Press Room grabbed national headlines. What is most important and impressive to me about the reaction of the Washington, DC, press corps is that many of them stood together against this plainly unconstitutional action by the Administration. It is an obvious point but an important one to reiterate: collective action matters and it works. When other news outlets sided with their peers from Politico, CNN, and MS NOW — and the AP before them — the pushback worked. When the President cannot get on the TV because the cameras are not rolling at the White House, it can have an effect. Just as others, including philanthropic organizations, have stood together, we can push back on authoritarian overreach.

In that spirit and on that theme, I post below my prepared remarks (with thanks to my MacArthur colleagues, not AI, for the drafting assistance!) at the Capital & Main Gala earlier this month.

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Thank you to everyone at Capital & Main for this generous recognition. I am deeply honored to receive the 2026 Philanthropy and Journalism Award.

I accept it on behalf of my extraordinary colleagues and our Board at the MacArthur Foundation—and alongside the funders, news organizations, community leaders, and reporters with whom we have the privilege of working.

MacArthur is a proud supporter of Capital & Main. In 2024, our Foundation made a half-million-dollar grant in support of its award-winning reporting.

I have great respect for Capital & Main’s singular commitment to deep reporting on inequality and climate change—two of the greatest challenges of our time.

These two issues are deeply interconnected. The effects of climate change are rarely distributed equally. The communities with the fewest resources are often the most exposed to extreme heat, pollution, flooding, displacement, and economic disruption. Capital & Main helps us understand not only what is happening, but who is affected, who benefits, who bears the costs, and who has the power to act.

That is journalism performing one of its most essential democratic functions.

Journalism at its best gives people the facts they need to make up their own minds. It ensures that consequential decisions are not made in darkness. And it reminds every sector—government, business, philanthropy, and the press itself—that someone is paying attention.

Democracy does not sustain itself. It depends on what people do every day: how we participate, how we treat one another, how we solve problems, and how we hold those in power accountable.

To do any of that, people need reliable information.

They need to know what their school board decided, where their tax dollars are going, whether the air and water are safe, why their electricity bill is rising, what services are available, and who is responsible when public systems fail.

When communities lose access to that information, the damage extends far beyond the news business. Rumor fills the vacuum. Public officials receive less scrutiny. Neighbors have fewer shared facts from which to begin a conversation. People lose their ability to shape the decisions affecting their lives.

At MacArthur, we see reliable information as the connective tissue across all our work. Whether we are focused on climate change, global peace and security, or emerging technologies, progress depends upon people understanding what is happening around them—and having a meaningful voice in what happens next.

Journalism is a public good. It is part of a community’s essential infrastructure, much like its libraries, sidewalks, and streetlights. But unlike concrete or steel, this infrastructure must be renewed every day—through reporting, listening, verification, and relationships of trust.

The question before us is not whether we can restore the news ecosystem exactly as it was. We cannot, and we should not confuse one familiar business model with the enduring public purpose of journalism.

The delivery system can change. The democratic function cannot.

The future will not belong to one kind of news organization. It will include legacy newsrooms and nonprofit startups; national public media and community-based publications; and outlets serving Black, Latino, Indigenous, immigrant, and rural communities. It will be delivered via social media, newsletters, podcasts, text services, and formats that have not yet been invented.

A strong ecosystem will include many types of news and information providers, and be deeply local, and connected. It will be made up of organizations that collaborate without surrendering their independence and that reach people in the languages, places, and formats they use to get information.

Capital & Main offers a powerful example of that future. By making its reporting available free of charge to hundreds of publications across the country, it ensures that strong journalism travels farther than any one newsroom could take it alone. That model of sharing rather than guarding, and of expanding reach rather than competing for scarcity, is the kind of collaboration that journalism needs during a moment of enormous challenge and change.

Philanthropy can help build that future—but only if we move beyond providing resources to keep an organization alive for one more year.

News organizations need runway, not rescue.

That means patient, flexible support. It means investing not only in individual stories, but also in leadership, revenue development, technology, audience research, staff safety, legal support, and shared infrastructure. It means helping organizations become more resilient and less dependent on any single funder.

It also requires humility. Funders must protect editorial independence, listen to the people closest to the work, and recognize that philanthropy will never be the entire answer. Sustainable journalism will also require subscriptions, memberships, businesses, public policy, and communities that choose to support the information they value.

That collective, collaborative spirit is at the heart of Press Forward, a national network to help strengthen local news. MacArthur helped launch Press Forward because the challenge was far too large for any one foundation—or any one solution. Press Forward is an effort to bring more funders into this work, strengthen news organizations, support experimentation, and place more decisions and resources closer to the communities being served.

What gives me hope is that people have not stopped valuing journalism. Reporters continue to show up. New leaders are building organizations from the ground up. Newsrooms are collaborating–they are standing together when it matters, for one another, for the First Amendment, and for the public they serve. Communities are articulating what information they need to make decisions that impact their daily lives. And more donors are beginning to understand that supporting journalism is another way of supporting democracy—and the places they call home.

So tonight, as we celebrate Capital & Main, I hope we will also invest in its future.

To everyone at Capital & Main: thank you for this honor. More importantly, thank you for your courage, your persistence, your generosity in sharing your work, and your commitment to reporting that holds power to account. MacArthur is proud to stand with you—and with everyone working to build something better. Thank you.