Mirror Indy is an Indianapolis-based news site founded by the nonprofit Free Press Indiana and affiliated with the American Journalism Project. ¹

The news site’s top funders include the Nina Mason Pulliam Trust, the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, Myrta Pulliam, and the Lumina Foundation. ²

Free Press Indiana raised $10 million and hired top editors from the Indianapolis Star ahead of the December 2023 launch of Mirror Indy. ^{3 4}

Background

Mirror Indy is a nonprofit news organization that says it focuses on “community-oriented reporting” in Indianapolis, Indiana. ⁵

Mirror Indy is the first publication of Free Press Indiana, a nonprofit news effort run by a coalition of Indiana-based organizations and the the American Journalism Project, a left-of-center organization that funds the creation of local nonprofit news outlets. ¹

Mirror Indy  partners with other local news outlets with the goal to ensure Indiana residents have local news. ⁵

The publication had about 20 editors and reporters on launch day. ⁶ Beyond editors and reporters, the outlet also has “documenters,” which it describes as “everyday citizens” who attend local government meetings and document what occurred. ⁶ Documenters are paid $20 per hour to go to government meetings. Their meeting notes are edited and published at the Mirror Indy website. ⁷

The outlet also says it plans to hold community events, public meetings and listening sessions to understand what news readers want. ⁶

A Forbes commentary in March 2024 analyzed Mirror Indy’s coverage as mostly quoting government officials, politicians, and activist “leaders” when reporting on public affairs and government, while rarely getting input from everyday individuals, despite its pledge of “democratizing storytelling.” ⁸

Funding

Mirror Indy claims to have more than two dozen philanthropies and news organizations as funders and partners. ⁹ The group makes all donations of more than $5,000 public. ⁹

Donors who contributed more than $1 million to Mirror Indy are the Nina Mason Pulliam Trust, the foundation of the family that formerly owned the Indianapolis Star; the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, named for the owner of the Indiana Pacers; Myrta Pulliam, a member of the Pulliam family that owned the Indianapolis Star; the Lumina Foundation, a nonprofit that mostly funds educational initiatives; and the American Journalism Project, which funds the creation and operation of local nonprofit news outlets. ²

Donors who gave more than $100,000 to the news outlet were Karen Ferguson Fuson, former publisher of the Indianapolis Star; the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund; and John Mutz, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Indiana. ²

Donors who contributed more than $25,000 were Michael Arnolt, a former journalist and co-founder of the Graston Technique, a physical therapy method, ¹⁰ and the Robert R. and Gayle T. Meyer Family Fund, an Indiana charity that focuses on environmental and education issues. ^{2 11}

Other funders and partners include DePauw University; WFYI Indianapolis; the Indianapolis Foundation; Butler College of Communication, Central Indiana Community Foundation, Indianapolis Recorder, Documenters Powered by City Bureau, Indiana News Service, Radio One, Capital B Gary, the Indiana Citizen, Chalkbeat Indiana, the StatehouseFile.com, WISH-TV Channel 8, and Circle City Broadcasting. ⁹

Of those funders, City Bureau is a journalism group that focuses on racial identity politics and promotes local coverage in Midwestern cities. ¹² It has a Documenters Network that trains people how to cover government meetings. ¹³ Capitol Bureau Gary is part of the larger Capital B, which is a national and local news outlet that focuses on Black Americans. ¹⁴ Chalkbeat Indiana is affiliated with the national Chalkbeat, a left-of-center news outlet that focuses on education issues and emphasizes “anti-racism.” ¹⁵

Mirror Indy says it subscribes to the Institute for Nonprofit News standards for editorial independence and keeps a firewall between journalistic and donor/business interests. ⁹

Founding

Free Press Indiana began in 2021 when a steering committee that included local journalists, community and business leaders worked with the American Journalism Project on a statewide research study to get input from more than 1,000 Indiana residents in 79 counties. After seeing the outcome of the study, the coalition determined the state needed a news organization that was big enough to add a large amount of original, local reporting. ¹ Free Press Indiana says it raised $10 million to launch the project. ³

Almost two months before Mirror Indy launched, Axios reported in October 2023 that the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star was “bleeding staff” to the startup. Mirror Indy hired Bro Krift, the Indianapolis Star’s former executive editor, as its CEO; Oseye Boyd, former public engagement editor for the Star as its editor-in-chief; and Chris Sikich, former enterprise editor for the Indianapolis Star as managing editor. ¹⁶

The plans for a 25-person news staff at Mirror Indy would be comparable to the Indianapolis Star. ¹⁶ According to Forbes, the Star announced in early 2024 it would spend $2 million to grow its local news reporting in what seemed a response to competition. ⁸

While it began as a “virtual” newsroom, as of April 2024 Mirror Indy planned to have a physical location in the future. ³

Editorial Leadership

Oseye Boyd is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Indy. She was previously the public engagement editor for the Indianapolis Star. She is a former editor of the Indianapolis Recorder, the nation’s fourth oldest Black-owned newspaper. ¹⁷

Chris Sikich is the managing editor of Mirror Indy. He previously worked for the Indianapolis Star as an investigative reporter, and later as an editor for the politics and business desks. ¹⁸

Amanda Kingsbury is the managing editor of innovation. She has been a police and courts reporter, a travel editor, breaking news editor, arts and culture editor, and newsroom consumer experience and content director at the Indianapolis Star. She co-founded the Indy Maven, a publication for central Indiana women. ¹⁹

Ryan Martin is the deputy managing editor of Mirror Indy. He was previously an investigative reporter for State Affairs Indiana and the Indianapolis Star. He was part of a team across four publications that won a 2021 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for an investigation that examined K-9 units. ²⁰

Jennifer Delgadillo is the arts and culture editor for Mirror Indy. She has written for Booth, NUVO and Sky Blue Window. ²¹

Jenna Watson is the art director for Mirror Indy. Watson was previously a staff photojournalist at the Indianapolis Star. ²²

Ariana Beedie is the community journalism director. Her work was featured in AFROPUNK, Sixty Inches from Center, Indianapolis Contemporary, Indy Arts Council and WFYI. ²³

Sharlene Birdson is the documenters assignment editor for Mirror Indy. ⁹

1. “FAQs.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/donate/
2. “Donors.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/donors/
3. Essex, Richard and Springer, Michaela. “New journalism venture Mirror Indy launches with goals to reflect stories of the city.” WISH-TV Channel 8. December 5, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/new-journalism-venture-mirror-indy-launches-with-goals-to-reflect-stories-of-the-city/
4. Press Release. “Nonprofit News Organization Free Press Indiana Launches Mirror Indy.” December 5, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.localnewsforindiana.org/posts/fpi-launches-mirror-indy
5. “Mirror Indy.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/mirror-indy/
6. Boyd, Oseye. “Welcome to Mirror Indy. We’re here to serve you.” Mirror Indy. December 5, 2023. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/welcome-to-mirror-indy-were-here-to-serve-you/
7.  Holbert, Christine. “Mirror Indy, AJP’s latest project, surpasses fundraising goal on launch day, backed by BlueLena services.” Bluelena. February 12, 2024. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://bluelena.io/2024/02/12/mirror-indy-ajps-latest-project-smashes-fundraising-goal-on-launch-day-backed-by-bluelena-services/
8. Vincent, Subramaniam. “Mirror Indy Or IndyStar? Why Journalistic Sourcing Matters More.” Forbes. March 1, 2024. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/subramaniamvincent/2024/03/01/mirror-indy-or-indystar-why-journalistic-sourcing-matters-more/?sh=dc97cef54231
9. “Team.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/about/#team
10. “Board Members.” Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://arnoltcenter.org/board-members/
11.  “A Family’s Legacy of Philanthropy: The Meyers.” Central Indiana Community Foundation. April 24, 2014. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.cicf.org/2014/04/24/a-familys-legacy-of-philanthropy/
12. “Our Mission.” City Bureau. Accessed July 18, 2022. https://www.citybureau.org/our-mission.
13. City Bureau. “City Bureau Receives $10 Million Award to Strengthen Democracy by Expanding Documenters Project.” City Bureau. City Bureau, July 7, 2022. https://www.citybureau.org/notebook/2022/7/7/city-bureau-receives-10-million-award-to-strengthen-democracy
14. Patel, Nilay. “News with a B: CEO Lauren Williams on why we need news for and by Black people.” The Verge. February 8, 2022. Accessed February 8, 2024. https://www.theverge.com/22922029/capital-b-ceo-lauren-williams-black-news-founder-startup-media-local
15. Green, Elizabeth. “Why Chalkbeat Is Committing to Antiracism.” Chalkbeat. June 4, 2020. https://www.chalkbeat.org/21280299/black-lives-matter-antiracist.
16. Briggs, James. “Indianapolis news nonprofit raids IndyStar’s staff.” Axios. October 19, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2023/10/19/free-press-indiana-hires-indy-star
17. “Oseye Boyd.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/oseye/
18.  “Chris Sikich.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/csikich/
19. “Amanda Kingsbury.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/akingsbury/
20. “Ryan Martin.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/rmartin/
21. Jennifer Delgadillo. Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/jdelgadillo/
22. “Jenna Watson.” Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/jwatson/
23. Ariana Beedie. Mirror Indy. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://mirrorindy.org/author/abeedie/