The Beacon (Kansas City)

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The Beacon
TheBeacon-KansasCity-landingPage2020-12-13.png
The Beacon (Kansas City) 2020-12-13
TypeNonprofit
FormatOnline digital news
FounderKelsey Ryan
Editor-in-chiefChris Lester (interim)
CEOStephanie Campbell
Founded2020
Political alignmentNonpartisan
Headquarters300 E. 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
City Kansas City
Website kcbeacon.org

The Beacon is a non-profit online news outlet in the Kansas City metropolitan area focusing on public-interest journalism. [1] It is Kansas City's first regional nonprofit news outlet that is not a public television or radio station. [2]

It was founded in 2020 by Kelsey Ryan, a former Investigative journalist for the Kansas City Star [3] and a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist. [4] It launched earlier than planned on March 12, 2020, in response to community information needs with the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] The news network is overseen by an eight-member Board of Directors and the Kansas City newsroom works with a 10-member community advisory board. [6] [2] The news organization received initial funding from a Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in 2019 and has received additional funding from the Solutions Journalism Network in order to write about broadband infrastructure in Kansas and Missouri. [2] It is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, [7] Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION), [8] and the Kansas Press Association. [9]

The Beacon won the 2020 "Emerging Publisher" award from Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers. [10] It also won the 2021 "Community Champion" award from the Institute for Nonprofit News. [11]

In 2021, The Beacon expanded into a regional news network beyond Kansas City, [12] and launched a second local newsroom in Wichita, Kansas, called The Wichita Beacon. [13] The expansion into a regional news network from a single newsroom was spurred with a commitment of $1.1 million from the Wichita Community Foundation [14] and funding from the American Journalism Project. [15]

Ryan, founder and publisher of The Beacon, left the organization in 2022 for a job as the executive director of the Association of Health Care Journalists. [16]

In September 2024, NiemanLab reported on a pattern of high staff turnover at The Wichita Beacon. [17] The Wichita newsroom ceased publication in October 2024. [18]

References

  1. ↑ "The Beacon". Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion. November 18, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Civic-focused news operation The Beacon establishes itself quickly in Kansas City". Local Media Association. December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  3. ↑ Evelyn Mateos (May 20, 2020). "Former Star reporter forms online news outlet" (PDF). The Kansas Publisher: 4. Wikidata   Q104167991..
  4. ↑ "Newton graduate Kelsey Ryan a Pulitzer Prize finalist". Harvey County Now. April 18, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Covering the coronavirus is like covering a natural disaster, but 'everyone is going through it'". April 7, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Community Advisory Board". The Beacon. November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  7. ↑ The Kansas City Beacon, Kansas City, Wikidata   Q104214683
  8. ↑ LION Publishers: Current Members, LION Publishers, Wikidata   Q108936755
  9. ↑ Kansas Press Association: Browse Full Member Database, Kansas Press Association, Wikidata   Q108936678
  10. ↑ Meet the winners of the 2020 LION Awards, LION Publishers, 2020, Wikidata   Q104172657 .
  11. ↑ "24 winners named in INN's first national Nonprofit News Awards".
  12. ↑ "The Kansas City Beacon is expanding to a second city, Wichita, with nearly $4M raised".
  13. ↑ "Home". wichitabeacon.org.
  14. ↑ "News | Wichita Community Foundation".
  15. ↑ "American Journalism Project Announces New Nonprofit Newsroom Grantees, New Funding Partners". December 17, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Nonprofit news publisher named AHCJ's executive director". AHCJ. August 19, 2022. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  17. ↑ Culpepper, Sophie (September 30, 2024). "Why does the Wichita Beacon keep losing reporters?". NiemanLab. Archived from the original on August 8, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
  18. ↑ Culpepper, Sophie (October 15, 2024). "Midwestern news nonprofit The Beacon shuts down its Wichita newsroom". NiemanLab. Archived from the original on December 1, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.

39°03′27″N94°34′47″W / 39.0575°N 94.5797°W / 39.0575; -94.5797

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