ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the evolution of American journalism's orientation toward impact. It focuses on nonprofit news organizations, which have been more explicit than their counterparts about their desire to affect change through journalism. As Gans 1998 argued, the journalistic theory of democracy offers little clarity on whether and how journalists contribute to democracy. While journalism and democracy are inextricably linked, the precise nature of that link has not been fully specified. If, as Merritt and McCombs 2004 argue, investigative journalism is inherently more impact-oriented than are other forms of journalism, investigative nonprofits are more impact-oriented still. Some of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) readers come to its site for stories written by its journalists, summaries of reporting in other countries, and blog posts describing the ICIJ's work, but a much larger audience sees its reports when news organizations around the world republish them or write their own versions.
