Media and Journalism

The Puffin Foundation Ltd. has embarked on a major commitment to support high-quality educational and investigative journalism. The Foundation’s First Amendment Fund funds a variety of publications and independent journalists in multiple types of media.

The Puffin Foundation Ltd., in cooperation with Type Media Center (formerly The Nation Institute), has created a long-running program for new writing Fellows. Underwritten by Puffin, the Fellows focus on a wide variety of investigative reporting projects. The Foundation also supports Type Media’s Investigative Fund which produces in-depth journalism for a variety of publications including the Nation Magazine. Puffin also supports the The Nation Magazine’s StudentNation initiative, which provides a unique space to young journalists and activist-writers to reflect on their own issues, campaigns, struggles, and victories.

Jewish Currents is a publication devoted to the thought, activism, and culture of the Jewish left that Puffin has supported for decades. We are particularly proud of an endowment, created by Puffin’s founder Perry Rosenstein, to help ensure the ongoing publication of their print magazine. We are now delighted to announce the launch of their new Puffin Foundation Investigative Fund that will enable them to deepen their reporting on issues related to institutional power and policy.

Since their inception in 1976, In These Times has been informing progressive political thought through their coverage of controversial issues in areas such as labor, climate, and Black Lives Matter.  In an era when independent media are more vital than ever, a Puffin endowment has enabled ITT to secure a permanent home, while additional support helps provide free subscriptions to union members and has facilitated the expansion of their exceptional investigative journalism. 

We are facing a dire climate crisis, largely driven by corporate greed, economic pressures, and opportunistic politicians.  Puffin’s funding for Jacobin Magazine supports their Environmental Reporting Fund, with articles that help readers better understand the causes, challenges, and hopeful solutions for our climate future. And as much as we love the writing at Jacobin, the beautiful presentation of this magazine should not go without mention; their graphics and illustrations are truly extraordinary.

Dissent Magazine has been publishing important voices of the left, including Richard Wright, Octavio Paz, Dorothy Day, Barbara Ehrenreich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Roxane Gay, since 1954. Dissent’s Young Writers Fund plays a leading role in developing the next generation of progressive essayists, journalists, and leaders. Puffin’s support has helped nurture these writers through dozens of articles that explore the vital issues of our day.

Democracy Now! is an independent and progressive news organization whose mission is to provide a platform for voices that have been underrepresented or marginalized by mainstream media. Through the Democracy Now! website, anyone can read or tune in to reporting that includes breaking news headlines as well as interviews with people on the front lines of the most pressing global issues. Founded in 1996 by Journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González, the show originally aired on nine stations. Today, Democracy Now! Is broadcast daily in the United States and Canada as well as around the world and reaches millions of people every day.

The Urban Activist, an online publication, centers its reporting on urban affairs, specifically focusing on city-based, solution-driven actions that create human progress. The publication investigates local initiatives and highlights the people behind them, and is delivered by a network of non-journalist activists, artists, researchers, farmers, and more, which adds multidisciplinary perspectives to the stories. The Urban Activist believes local innovation is the key to finding the solution to the world’s most pressing issues. 

The Barn Raiser is a new national magazine which publishes independent news, analysis, and information to support diverse and civically engaged small town communities. The Barn Raiser is a new publication created by Joel Bleifuss, the accomplished former Publisher & Editor of In These Times. The Barn Raiser’s website features original articles on politics, history, culture, religion, agriculture, and Native American people of rural America. 

Additional Support

The Puffin Foundation’s past and present support for journalism also includes:

The Economic Hardship Reporting Project, founded by Barbara Ehrenreich, which reports on common sense solutions to poverty in America;  and investigative reporter Greg Palast for his comprehensive work on the corruption of our electoral democracy, and the dark world of the financial and oil industries.