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The dawn of 2024 on Monday represented the start of an exciting transition for our organization: The Pleasanton Weekly and our sister publications are now a journalism nonprofit operated by the Embarcadero Media Foundation, no longer part of the for-profit business Embarcadero Media Group.
As our CEO Adam Dawes explained so well when we announced the planned conversion in November, the move became necessary for “two main reasons. First, with all of the headwinds that we and other local news publishers across the country are facing, we need to shift our business model to rely more directly on donations from our communities. Second, operating as a nonprofit will enable us to grow and evolve our journalism in exciting ways that can provide greater benefit to the community.”
I’m hopeful our transition to a 501(c)(3) organization will provide the operational stability we desperately need, and more importantly, allow our journalistic endeavors to thrive for years and years to come.
Just how our journalism might change as a nonprofit remains to be seen, but my hunch is not very much in the short-term – as for the long-term, who knows? There are many conversations ongoing internally and externally as we work to carve out our new identity.
For now, I am committed to our Tri-Valley team covering the type of news our readers have appreciated for years: close oversight of local government agencies, engaging community and A&E features, major public safety incidents, criminal and civil court cases, intriguing opinion writing and subjective storytelling, captivating photography and investigative reporting on important issues relevant to our residents.
But coverage priorities could change in the future, and that’s OK. For example, being a nonprofit opens up new avenues for grant funding available for reporting on certain topics. I’m intrigued to see what sort of possibilities are out there.
One area that will look different is our approach to elections.
The IRS has very strict policies – although some not as specific as we’d like – as it pertains to “political engagement” by nonprofits, which the publication of materials related to election candidates falls into. As it was explained to me, basically the IRS does not want any 501(c)(3) organizations participating in activity that supports or opposes candidates.
Let me be clear: That does not mean we won’t report on elections. Quite the opposite.
We will continue to report news developments relevant to local elections as well as our overarching candidate profiles or voter information guides, which are protected as educational in nature. We will also continue to hold candidate forums when feasible. (Interestingly, campaign advertising is also still allowed, provided everyone is given equal opportunity.)
What it does mean, however, is our editorial board can no longer endorse candidates. The IRS deems this a no-no to retain tax-exempt status, which on its face seems fair to me.
I will acknowledge the obvious, though: We are ceding a piece of our editorial independence to the federal government, but our organizational leaders understand that’s the cost of doing business (so to speak) as a nonprofit.
Now I won’t exactly miss candidate endorsements. While they were important based on our role in the community and some voters found our objective opinions helpful, they were a major undertaking each spring and fall of election years. I would have to serve as lead author for anywhere from a dozen or more endorsements for general elections, on top of an already jampacked day job.
And there would have been endorsements relevant to the March 5 primary ballot, such as Alameda County District 4 Supervisor, State Legislature and Congress. Oh, and there’s the possibility of recall votes midyear related to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and Sunol School Board Trustees Ryan Jergensen and Linda Hurley – endorsement questions I wouldn’t be itching to touch with a 20-foot flag pole. I’m off the hook, I guess.
We’re also under the impression that the prohibition on candidate endorsements (or non-endorsements) extends to our blogs and letters to the editor, and quite possibly our online story comments too. So no more pro-candidate letters filling our Opinion pages in the paper this election season.
It does appear that editorial opinions on ballot measures, as well as any non-election topic, can still be open season legally, but we will need to debate internally about whether we want to prioritize those types of assignments as a nonprofit editorial board.
The straight news reporting, though, we’ll always be there. 2024 is a huge year for elections in the Tri-Valley. I look forward to us being your trusted source for accurate, fair and no-nonsense coverage of every local topic on the ballot this March and November.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly.
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