Website: https://nashvillebanner.com/
The Nashville Banner is a locally owned, community-supported civic news organization based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a nonprofit, non-partisan newsroom that, in its own words, exists “to empower the people of Nashville to make informed decisions by providing non-partisan journalism from an independent, nonprofit newsroom.” The Banner is digital-first and operates with no paywall, stating that it believes everyone should have access to news. The organization describes itself as “the new Nashville Banner,” a deliberately different newsroom that is nonprofit, non-partisan, and “not interested in clickbait.”
Services
The Nashville Banner produces deeply reported local and regional journalism across several focus areas, including:
- Metro Nashville government and policy
- Criminal justice and courts
- Tennessee state politics
- Immigration
- Education
- Community features and profiles, including a section called Banner & Co. and a ZIP Code Project
The newsroom emphasizes context and clarity over surface-level coverage, stating that it aims to “break news but never rush the story” and to listen to the people most affected by each story. Readers can subscribe to The Flyer, a free daily newsletter delivered every weekday.
About
The Nashville Banner is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and non-partisan news organization (federal tax ID 83-1703750). It operates under the umbrella of Nashville Public Media and is published on the Newspack platform. The organization is funded by foundations, philanthropic giving, membership, and corporate support, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Leadership listed on the Board of Directors includes Steve Cavendish (President & Editor, Nashville Public Media), Bruce Dobie (CEO, Power Poll), Beth Fortune, Tené Franklin (Chief Strategy Officer, Tennessee Justice Center), and Michael Whitley (Chair; International Planning Editor, The New York Times). The newsroom includes a number of bylined reporters and staff. The organization credits the American Journalism Project with a three-year, $1.2 million grant to help sustain the publication, along with other foundation and individual supporters.
Location & Contact
The Nashville Banner is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Story tips can be sent to [email protected], and mailed contributions can be directed to Nashville Public Media, P.O. Box 41972, Nashville, TN 37204. The organization maintains a presence on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Additional Information
Supporters can give through monthly, yearly, or one-time gifts via credit and debit cards, checks and money orders, donor-advised funds, employer matching, shares of stock, IRA gifts, and estate planning. Gifts of $5,000 and above are recognized through the Nashville Banner Publisher’s Society. The website also includes sections covering staff, board, policies, annual reports, jobs, freelancing, corporate sponsorship, and a media kit.
The organization accepts donor-advised fund contributions through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and major administrators such as Fidelity, Schwab, and BNY Mellon, with grant recommendations directed to Nashville Public Media. Among the supporters credited by the Banner are the American Journalism Project, Ruth Ann Harnisch, the family of J.D. Norman Sr. and Barbara Norman Haynes, AT&T, and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, alongside numerous individual and family donors. Development inquiries are handled by the organization’s Director of Development. As a digital-first newsroom with no paywall, the Banner makes its reporting freely available to all readers and sustains its operations through a combination of foundation grants, membership, corporate sponsorship, and individual philanthropy. Its coverage areas span Metro government, criminal justice, courts, state politics, immigration, education, and community-focused initiatives such as the ZIP Code Project.
Profile compiled from the company’s official website (nashvillebanner.com).