ProPublica has ended its cash investment in Trump, Inc., the joint project with WNYC that investigates Donald Trump’s businesses and associates.
The project consists of a podcast and written articles. ProPublica will no longer be a co-producer of the show but will remain an editorial partner, WNYC spokesperson Jennifer Houlihan Roussel told Current. WNYC and ProPublica “are committed to reporting and producing new episodes through November,” she said.
Because of the change in funding, WNYC did not renew the contract of Alice Wilder, a producer and reporter for Trump, Inc., Roussel said.
ProPublica President Richard Tofel declined to disclose to Current how much the investigative news nonprofit is pulling out of the project, but he said ProPublica’s contribution toward the salaries and benefits of reporters and editors working on the project “is a far larger cost.”
“We are trying, as everybody is, to do what we can to limit costs in this circumstance without actually cutting back on reporting,” Tofel said.
ProPublica does not plan to make cuts this year in its reporting, he said.
“Next year, obviously, is a good bit more uncertain at this point, but we’re confident we will not need to do that this year,” he said. “And part of the reason we’re confident about that is we’ve been able to trim some costs.”