Partnerships between commercial and nonprofit news organizations could help boost the reach and influence of all media, a new study from the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism finds.

Using real-world examples, the study, From Outsourcing to Innovation: How Nonprofit/Commercial Media Partnerships Can Help Fill the News Gap (25 pages, PDF), suggests that cross-sector collaborations would not only improve nonprofit news groups' bottom lines, but would also provide commercial outlets with better local news coverage — something which many have shed in recent years as a result of budget pressures. The study also offers recommendations for successful partnerships and identifies appropriate roles for government and the technology sector.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York have committed more than $800,000 to help implement the report's recommendations. Projects receiving support include efforts to examine how tax law is affecting nonprofit media, how to create a plan for state-specific C-Span-like cable channels, and how to develop reliable metrics for media philanthropy.

The study is one of eleven being conducted at leading universities in response to the Federal Communications Commission's June 2011 report Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age. "The FCC's study will be either a catalyst for improving the flow of news and information in communities, or a book that sits on a shelf," said Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president at the Knight Foundation. "We hope America's journalism schools will lead the debate on the report's recommendations and the news community will make its views known. That's a good first step in the right direction."