A Newspaper Goes Nonprofit
By Albert B. Kelly
Over the years, I’ve commented on multiple occasions in this
space about the value of having a local newspaper and what local communities
miss when they don’t have reporters on the ground focused on and covering local
happenings and news. As an elected official in a community that once had its
own newspaper, I am aware of its absence more than you might think. Usually
it’s when someone asks about something that would normally be part of local
coverage.
Before I go on too much about local coverage, it is worth
pointing out that local news can’t compete if the standard is entertainment.
After all, how much sizzle can there be covering zoning and planning board
meetings, commission gatherings, or city council meetings? Yet there is value
in accountability and that’s what local coverage brings to the table that often
gets overlooked, whether it’s the impact of an ordinance change or making an
elected official think twice about that conflict of interest they’d hoped would
go unnoticed. When all else fails, there good old fashioned gossip.
All of that was why I was intrigued when I came across a
news story from a couple of months ago about the Salt Lake Tribune becoming the
first major daily newspaper in the country to become a nonprofit organization.
Last fall, the IRS approved the change the Salt Lake Tribune is now a 501(c)
(3) public charity. At first glance, being a nonprofit might seem strange for a
news outlet, but if you familiar with NPR (National Public Radio), then it
might not seem so strange.
The Salt Lake Tribune, like many local newspapers, was
losing a lot of money with deliveries, subscriptions, and advertising all
dropping to unsustainable levels. By reorganizing themselves in this way, The
Tribune will be able to accept donations of all sizes to go along with the
other traditional revenue streams customary for a newspaper. As for potential
conflicts involving donors and coverage, I imagine there will be a learning
curve as there always is with new and innovative things.
The Tribune will be able to cover the full breadth and width
of the news for their readers, including editorials, but one thing they will
not be able to do is issue formal endorsements of political candidates which is
something nonprofit organizations are prohibited from doing. Chances are good
that the reading public won’t miss these endorsements much- only the candidates
will as we love to crow about how many we’ve gotten in a given campaign.
Unlike what customers pay in print or digital subscriptions,
donations will be tax deductible and according to The Tribune, all donations
they receive will go to support the newsroom (i.e. reporters, editors,
photographers, etc.) which is a good thing since staffing has been cut some 60%
in the last several years. It will be interesting to see where their donations
come from whether individual readers, households, other nonprofit
organizations, corporations, foundations, or some combination of these.
This news makes me wonder if one of our local newspapers
might one day benefit by becoming a 501(c) (3) and by that I mean expanding the
number of reporters to cover more local beats. It also makes me wonder whether
the public would donate to a local news outlet that was a 501C-3 to help
preserve local coverage and local accountability.
The Tribune’s approach might sound far-fetched to some, but
given that our own State legislature approved $2 million in funding for the New
Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a nonprofit with the mission of reviving,
strengthening and transforming local media across the state, it might not seem
that far-fetched after all. In fact, the consortium might be the vehicle to
start the conversation in the Garden State about local newspapers structuring
as 501C-3s.
I don’t know if we’ll ever again experience what it’s like
to have in-depth and robust local coverage, whether structured as 501C-3 or
something else but if we do, we should support such efforts not so much because
we like rinsing news ink from our hands, but because sustained local coverage
is part of forging a community identity- serving as a local mirror reflecting
the community back to itself as its editorials challenge whatever passes for
the conventional wisdom. It does all of this while keeping readers informed.
And in age of fake news and false equivalence, that’s no small thing.