Outlet profile

Rhode Island Current

U.S. center-left

Owned byStates Newsroom, a national nonprofit news network (501(c)(3))

FundingGrants and donations; no advertising or subscriptions. Major funders have included the Wyss Foundation (a Swiss billionaire's left-leaning philanthropy), AFSCME (a Democratic-aligned public-sector union), and national journalism nonprofits such as Press Forward. States Newsroom accepts no corporate donations.

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

Rhode Island Current launched on March 15, 2023, as one of States Newsroom's state-level affiliates. States Newsroom itself grew out of NC Policy Watch, a progressive policy think tank founded in 2004 by Chris Fitzsimon; in 2017 it expanded using the liberal Hopewell Fund as a fiscal sponsor before becoming an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2019. Veteran journalist Janine Weisman, who spent 25 years at the Newport Daily News, was appointed editor-in-chief. The outlet carries no advertising and relies entirely on grants and donations; significant funders of the parent network have included the Wyss Foundation and AFSCME, both associated with left-leaning causes, leading NewsGuard in 2024 to characterize States Newsroom as a partisan outlet designed to appear apolitical. In September 2024, the New England Newspaper & Press Association named Rhode Island Current its Online News Organization of the Year. Coverage since January 2025 has concentrated on the Trump administration's effects on Rhode Island — including a denied blizzard disaster-relief request, federal funding freezes, a halt to offshore wind construction, and projected cuts to Medicaid and food assistance — with reporting that consistently frames federal policy as harmful to the state.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-07-20; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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