Overview

MacArthur’s goal in media grantmaking is to provide the public with high-quality, professionally-produced documentary films, deep and analytical journalism, and well-produced news and public affairs programming. Programs supported by the Foundation inform and educate their viewers about important and under-reported topics, provide balanced and accurate information, encourage global conversations, and use technology to tell stories in engaging and interactive ways. To reach the broadest possible audience, the Foundation supports programs intended for national public television and radio broadcast.

In 2010, the grantmaking budget for this program area is $8.5 million.

What MacArthur Funds

MacArthur’s current support for media includes:

1. support to national and international nonprofit news producers like National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, FRONTLINE, Center for Investigative Reporting, and LinkTV for the production and distribution of news content for public television, radio and the web;
2. support to public media and nonprofit programs like P.O.V., Wide Angle, Sundance Documentary Fund, and the International Media Development Fund of ITVS that identify, co-produce, broadcast, and/or disseminate high-quality documentary films on important social issues;
3. support to U.S.-based independent documentary filmmakers for the production and distribution of social-issue documentary films intended for a broad audience; and
4. support for projects like Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producers Institute for New Media Technologies and Public Radio Exchange that use technology to aid the production and/or distribution of the types of nonfiction content supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Updated January 28, 2010