The Beacon (Kansas City)

The Beacon is a non-profit online news outlet in the Kansas City metropolitan area focusing on public-interest journalism.[1] It is Kansas City’s first regional nonprofit news outlet that is not a public television or radio station.[2]

The Beacon
The Beacon (Kansas City) 2020-12-13
TypeNonprofit
FormatOnline digital news
PublisherKelsey Ryan
Founded2020
Political alignmentNonpartisan
Headquarters300 E. 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
WebsiteTheBeacon.media

It was founded in 2020 by Kelsey Ryan, a former Investigative journalist for the Kansas City Star[3] and a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist.[4] It launched earlier than planned on March 12, 2020, in response to community information needs with the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] The news network is overseen by an eight-member Board of Directors and the Kansas City newsroom works with a 10-member community advisory board.[6] [2] The news organization received initial funding from a Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in 2019 and has received additional funding from the Solutions Journalism Network in order to write about broadband infrastructure in Kansas and Missouri.[2] It is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News,[7] Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION),[8] and the Kansas Press Association.[9]

The Beacon won the 2020 "Emerging Publisher" award from Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers.[10] It also won the 2021 "Community Champion" award from the Institute for Nonprofit News.[11]

In 2021, The Beacon expanded into a regional news network beyond Kansas City,[12] and launched a second local newsroom in Wichita, Kansas, called The Wichita Beacon.[13] The expansion into a regional news network from a single newsroom was spurred with a commitment of $1.1 million from the Wichita Community Foundation [14] and funding from the American Journalism Project. [15]

References
  1. "The Beacon". Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion. 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  2. "Civic-focused news operation The Beacon establishes itself quickly in Kansas City". Local Media Association. 2020-12-08. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  3. Evelyn Mateos (20 May 2020). "Former Star reporter forms online news outlet" (PDF). The Kansas Publisher: 4. Wikidata Q104167991..
  4. "Newton graduate Kelsey Ryan a Pulitzer Prize finalist". Harvey County Now. 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  5. "Covering the coronavirus is like covering a natural disaster, but 'everyone is going through it'". 7 April 2020.
  6. "Community Advisory Board". The Beacon. 2020-11-24. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  7. The Kansas City Beacon, Wikidata Q104214683
  8. LION Publishers: Current Members, Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, Wikidata Q108936755
  9. Kansas Press Association: Browse Full Member Database, Kansas Press Association, Wikidata Q108936678
  10. Meet the winners of the 2020 LION Awards, Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, 2020, Wikidata Q104172657.
  11. "24 winners named in INN's first national Nonprofit News Awards".
  12. "The Kansas City Beacon is expanding to a second city, Wichita, with nearly $4M raised".
  13. https://wichitabeacon.org/
  14. "News | Wichita Community Foundation".
  15. "American Journalism Project Announces New Nonprofit Newsroom Grantees, New Funding Partners". 17 December 2020.

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