STACY HANNA

A couple of days ago, I received a call from a woman who has worked with local nonprofits for several years and does a lot of good work. She called because she was concerned about a question posed to her by a reporter regarding the amount of money being spent on a particular event. As the marketing director for this nonprofit — a large nonprofit that funnels money to many local organizations and is fueled with local donations — she was worried that the focus of the story would be on the cost of the somewhat controversial event, rather than the benefit it would provide.

Her question, in a nutshell? What does the cost of the event have to do with the news?

As I explained to her, and to others in the past, anytime public money (taxes, donations, etc.) pay for an event, it is our responsibility to report the amount. It is the readers' right to know where their money is going and how it's being used by the people it's been entrusted to disseminate. It's a standard question — the money question — in most news stories and not one we use to shine a light on controversial projects or topics.

It's our job to report the facts. All of them that are available and relevant. The money question is almost always relevant.

Comments

[Scott Erskine]

If it's the one I'm thinking of, then that is a good question.
They could take the money used for their 'kick-off' and 'goal-reaching' campaigns and use it to help more people as opposed to giving themselves a slap on the back.