The Current is a non-profit news organization in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...

. It describes itself as an "independent, digital newsroom pursuing answers to Lafayette's big questions."

History

The Current first appeared in April 2017 as a glossy print monthly published by IND Media, the company behind ''The IND Monthly'' (previously ''The Independent Weekly''), a Lafayette

alternative newspaper An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...

. With a print run of 10,000 copies, it was branded as "Lafayette’s journal of culture, commentary and ideas." The glossy ''Current'' only lasted three issues. In July 2017, amid widespread financial declines in newspapers, IND Media announced it was shutting down ''The IND Monthly'' after 14 years and suspending publication of ''The Current''. A few weeks later, IND Media announced that ''The Currents editorial director, Christiaan Mader, was acquiring the brand and planned to relaunch it as "a community-supported, primarily digital outlet," which it did in April 2018. The following year, The Current announced it would become a nonprofit organization, putting "local journalism where it always belonged — in the category of public service." It was granted 501(c)(3) status by the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

in February 2021.

Organization and funding

Mader is The Current's editor. Leslie Turk, previously of ''The IND Monthly'', is managing editor. The Current is a member of the

Institute for Nonprofit News The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a non-profit consortium of journalism organizations. The organization promotes nonprofit investigative and public service journalism through its association of member entities. History INN was founded a ...

Solutions Journalism Network The Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) is an independent, non-profit organization that advocates an approach of solutions journalism, an evidence-based mode of reporting on the responses to social problems. It was founded in 2013 by David Bornste ...

, and LION Publishers.

David Begnaud David Begnaud (born June 13, 1983) is an American journalist and news correspondent. Begnaud works for CBS News, and is currently based in New York City as the Lead National Correspondent for CBS Mornings. His reporting has been featured across CB ...

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

is a member of its board of directors. It is primarily funded by Lafayette-area individuals and foundations, but it has also received donations from the

Google News Initiative The Google News Lab is a global team at Google whose mission is to "collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to help build the future of media". Launched in 2015, the team works with news organizations to help drive innovation, address indus ...

, the Facebook Journalism Project, the

, the Local Media Foundation, and the Fund for Nonprofit News at The Miami Foundation. In 2020, it reported total revenues of $90,930.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://thecurrentla.org/ Mass media in Lafayette, Louisiana Mass media in Louisiana 2017 establishments in Louisiana Lafayette Parish, Louisiana American news websites Non-profit organizations based in Louisiana Publications established in 2017 501(c)(3) organizations Nonprofit newspapers