There’s a cloud of uncertainty hanging over many smaller media outlets around Vancouver Island and beyond.

A federally funded program to support civic journalism in under-served communities is set to expire at the end of next month, and there’s been no definitive answer one way or another about its future.

Called The Local Journalism Initiative or LJI, it provides funds to a number of not for profit organizations representing different segments of the news industry.

For example there’s one for print media, and one for community radio.

Those larger organizations administer the funding, giving money to news outlets to hire journalists.

There are different streams for different types of media, including print, community radio, and community television.

CHLY’s nonprofit newsroom receives Local Journalism Initiative funding for our news updates. Midcoast Morning is funded through a separate program.

The ambiguity around the LJI’s future has left more than 400 journalists across the country unsure whether or not they’ll have jobs come April.