# Arizona Media Association + Arizona Local News Foundation

> Arizona Media Association and the Arizona Local News Foundation operate as a paired statewide media infrastructure: a 501(c)(6) trade association represents nearly 400 radio, television, print, digital and associate groups, while an independently governed 501(c)(3) directs philanthropic and association-backed money into reporting, internships and newsroom experiments. Their distinctive engine is the Public Education Program, which converts donated member ad inventory into discounted public-interest campaigns and then recycles the proceeds into services for the same local-media ecosystem.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** Phoenix, United States
- **Products:** Public Education Program, Membership advocacy and legal support, Arizona Community Collaborative, Paid internship program, Startup + Innovation Grants
- **Notable:** Merged the Arizona Broadcasters Association and Arizona Newspapers Association into a single cross-platform state trade association., Built membership to 388 groups across radio, television, print, digital and associate organizations., Raised more than $2 million for an education-solutions collaborative and funded dedicated positions in 16 newsrooms for 24 months.

## Products & services

- **Public Education Program** — Coordinates donated member inventory and deeply discounted public-interest campaigns for Arizona government and nonprofit partners; proceeds fund much of the association’s work.
- **Membership advocacy and legal support** — Provides a state lobbyist, basic access to retained media counsel, membership-wide legal-defense capacity, FCC support for broadcasters and public-notice support for newspapers.
- **Arizona Community Collaborative** — A philanthropy-backed reporting network that funds 16 newsrooms for 24 months of education-solutions coverage and makes the resulting work freely shareable with attribution.
- **Paid internship program** — Offers 84 fully funded placements in 2026 at $3,700 each across journalism, sales, production, marketing and other local-media roles.
- **Startup + Innovation Grants** — Small grants for local news organizations to test technology, audience engagement, equipment, formats and community reporting; the first cohort awarded more than $55,000 to eight organizations.
- **Arizona Media Study** — Annual statewide research with SmithGeiger on media habits, advertising discovery, platform use and trust.
- **Shared political debates** — Produces white-labeled, no-cost statewide political debates for member distribution across television, radio and streaming, including Spanish simulcast and ASL interpretation in 2026.
- **Jobs, training and recognition** — Runs a statewide media job board, FCC and technology training, member communications, contests, the Arizona Media Icon Lunch and Hall of Fame recognition.

## Achievements

- Merged the Arizona Broadcasters Association and Arizona Newspapers Association into a single cross-platform state trade association.
- Built membership to 388 groups across radio, television, print, digital and associate organizations.
- Raised more than $2 million for an education-solutions collaborative and funded dedicated positions in 16 newsrooms for 24 months.
- The Education Solutions Collaborative surpassed 2,000 published stories in its first year.
- Produced and distributed 29 political debates in 2024; the partnership counted 32 debates across 2024 and 2025.
- Opened 84 fully funded internship placements for 2026 at $3,700 each.
- Awarded more than $55,000 to eight newsroom experiments in the first Startup + Innovation Grant cohort.
- A foundation-funded KAWC education reporter won first place in Digital Writing from the Public Media Journalists Association in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Opened a second Startup + Innovation Grant round, offering individual awards of up to $10,000.
- **2026-08** — Convened 13 Education Solutions reporters around collaborative coverage of the ESA program and teacher retention.
- **2026-07** — Reported that the Education Solutions Collaborative had produced more than 2,000 stories in its first year.
- **2026-06** — Arizona enacted a new public-notice framework following an agreement involving the association and newspaper stakeholders.
- **2026-05** — Awarded more than $55,000 to eight organizations in the first Startup + Innovation Grant cohort.
- **2026-03** — Extended the shared-debates partnership for the 2026 election, with white-labeled distribution, Spanish simulcast and ASL interpretation.
- **2026-01** — Tregg White became President and CEO; former CEO Chris Kline moved to chair the foundation board.

## Links

- Website: https://azmedia.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/officialazmedia
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialazmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialazmedia

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/arizona-media-association-arizona-local-news-foundation
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-20