MarketInk: Investigative journalism outlet inewsource names new editor, CEO

Digital nonprofit investigative newsroom inewsource, which covers the San Diego region, has named Jamie Self as chief executive officer and editor,

Self, who has served as managing editor at inewsource since 2023, told Times of San Diego she will oversee a staff of 17 employees, including eight reporters.

Self has worked in San Diego since 2021. Prior to joining inewsource, she worked on daily newspapers for a decade, including as a reporter on investigative projects and as senior editor of politics and state government at The State newspaper, a McClatchy daily in Columbia, South Carolina.

Self covered three first-in-the-South presidential primaries and state elections and has written about politics, public corruption, child welfare, education, abortion, gun rights and more. She also covered the massacre of Black churchgoers at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston and the subsequent battle to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.

Self, who has a master’s in literature, also currently serves on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego chapter.

“Lorie has always pushed us to see our work as a public service with the power to improve lives and change the course of history,” said Self. “As we begin this new chapter, we remain focused on serving our audiences with innovative journalism and delivering the high-impact investigative reporting we value most. Stay tuned for some exciting developments this year.”

Before founding inewsource, Hearn was a senior editor of investigative journalism and metro editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune, where she supervised more than 100 newsroom staffers.

After seeing how staffing cuts had decimated investigative reporting positions across the U.S., she left the U-T to launch a nonprofit newsroom.

Under Hearn’s leadership, inewsource has received numerous national and local investigative reporting awards, including two Edward R. Murrow awards for its “Impossible Choice” investigation into sub-acute hospital units where patients remained on life support indefinitely.

In 2025, inewsource was named a Pulitzer finalist for illustrated storytelling and commentary for its reporting project, “Fentanyl: A Decade of Death,” which Self edited.

An inewsource statement said Hearn grew the newsroom into a strong business, adding key reporting and revenue positions. She also brought the lauded Documenters program to San Diego, making inewsource the first news organization in Southern California and the only one in San Diego with a civic engagement program that trains and pays community members to attend public meetings and report on what happened.

“I’m proud of what inewsource has been able to do for the public over the years,” Hearn said. “I am confident that the new leadership and the staff will take its local reporting to an even higher level of excellence for the region.”

The statement from inewsource said Hearn’s legacy will include building the nonprofit news sector nationally. She is a founding member of the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Karen Rundlet, INN’s CEO and executive director, said Hearn “has been an important and principled leader for communities, for the field of journalism and for the mission driven nonprofit news sector.”

“Lorie stepped into the breach when the nonprofit movement was barely off the ground,” said inewsource board member Karin Winner, a former editor and vice president of news for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“She pioneered inewsource through difficult times in the media world and helped lay the nonprofit foundation for many of her peers to follow. She’s a dedicated journalist who’s never stopped pursuing the truth, holding people accountable and giving voice to those who most need it. I’m in awe of what she’s accomplished.”

Inewsource board chair Karen Liu said in a statement, “Lorie built this powerhouse organization from the ground up when other news outlets were shrinking. We’ve been fortunate to have had her leadership for the past 16 years and now to have a seamless transition to our new CEO, Jamie Self.”

The news organization, whose legal name is Investigative Newsource, is funded by individual contributions and foundation grants. It sometimes produces stories for radio and television and its media partners, including KPBS, Self said.

The inewsource mission statement says it is a community-focused nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to improving lives in the San Diego region and beyond through impactful, investigative and accountability journalism. Its vision is to create a community-powered news ecosystem that informs, educates, investigates and maintains public accountability for the people of San Diego and Imperial counties.

Newsom’s broken promise to fund journalism — from $175M to zero

Amid much fanfare in August 2024, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that $175 million would be spent over five years to fund hundreds of local newsroom positions in a joint deal between the state and Google.

At the time, Newsom, a Democrat, hailed the deal as a “major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms,” although critics warned about conflict of interest and if the state’s subsidies could damage media independence by incentivizing more favorable coverage of the government and Google.

The 2024 agreement called for the state to allocate $70 million and Google pay an initial $55 million into a newly established California Civic Media Fund. In addition, Google would continue gifting $10 million per year for five years in newsroom grants, thereby totaling the $175 million figure.

However, roughly 16 months later, the once-herald effort to help California journalists and boost local newsrooms — billed as a model that could succeed where entire countries and continents had fallen short — has amounted to zero dollars, leaving journalists empty-handed and journalism advocates with hurt feelings.

A report from CalMatters, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on California state politics and policy, cited budget cuts in the 2025-26 fiscal year as the reason why the state’s investment to help journalists was reduced from $70 million to $10 million, which was announced in May 2025. At the time, Google agreed to a one-time match of the state’s $10 million.

Indeed, California has the largest unfunded liability debt in the nation, approaching $270 billion. The state’s budget deficit each year usually ranges from $10 to $70 billion. Such profligate spending and deficits explain why the state has the highest income taxes and state sales tax rates in the nation.

Still, none of the $20 million pledged to help journalists has reached local news outlets, casting doubt on whether the lofty experiment will ever live up to its promise, said CalMatters.

In its report, Politico wrote, “Not a single newsroom has seen a dollar of funding, and there’s no definitive timeline spelling out when they will.”

Politico also wrote, “Officials have yet to draft precise rules for how California will decide which newsrooms get cash. And some critics worry the fund is susceptible to partisan influence from Newsom’s office because it’s now overseen by one of his advisers, Dee Dee Myers, who was once Bill Clinton’s White House press secretary.”

The Hill’s report on this story quoted a spokesperson for Newsom’s office who described the May 2025 decrease from $70 million to $10 million as a “modest reduction.”

According to Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association, Newsom has failed to keep his promise.

In comments about Newsom to CalMatters, Champion said, “He’s more interested in the billionaires and his friends than he’s interested in journalists who are out on the street. He talks about democracy, he talks about how critically important it is, and then he allows our journalists to starve on the vine.”

Joe Stephenshaw, director of the California Department of Finance, told CalMatters the state has already contributed $10 million to the California Civic Media Fund.

But even the full amount of the Google deal may not be enough to stop “the collapse of independent community news in California,” former state Sen. Steve Glazer told CalMatters.

“Leaders can’t just talk about protecting our democracy,” Glazer said. “They need to act to direct the resources to support independent news reporting that provides the oversight and accountability of our democratic institutions.”

San Diego AMA hosts ‘Cheers’ mixer, Jan. 27

The American Marketing Association’ San Diego chapter will host “AMA Cheers,” an informal, networking happy-hour mixer from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 27, at Pure Project Balboa Park, 2865 Fifth Ave., San Diego. The event is open to the public.

An AMA statement said, “We’re kicking off 2026 by focusing on what truly matters: building meaningful relationships. Whether you’re looking to grow your network, exchange ideas, or align with others on your professional development goals for the year ahead, AMA Cheers is your space to make it happen.”

Admission is free for AMA members, $10 for nonmembers. For more information, send an email to info@sdama.org or visit https://sdama.org.