What is the Pasadena Media Foundation?Founded by Sheryl Turner in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, the Pasadena Media Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to build a sustainable financial future for Pasadena-area news and information organizations...” The foundation was created in an effort to “save local news” the focus here is on Pasadena but if applied to other towns, members of the community would know exactly what’s happening in their backyards because they would have access to “high-quality local journalism.” Tax-deductible donations are made to the foundation and “95% of all donations are to be awarded to the specific news organization or local journalism awardee.”
The foundation has since awarded grants to publications such as Pasadena Now, Pasadena Black Pages, local journalists such as James Farr (producer of the informational talk show Conversation.Live), and Justin Chapman.
Local news is crucial to the country's democracy and livelihood of the people in the communities receiving the news. Without it, people are either misinformed or under-informed on the very basic, yet essential, information about the areas they reside in.