Non-profit news

[Azrael]

The alternative business model for the legacy press deserves its own thread.

Here it is.

 

[Alma]

It can work. It'll bend in the coverage preferences and cultural tastes of the major donors - nonprofit media will rarely be for the rank-and-file, rock-n-roll crowd - but it may be a way forward in larger cities.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

It'll bend in the coverage preferences and cultural tastes of the major donors

A large percentage of AP's national coverage this year is subsidized by private foundations.

 

[dixiehack]

How is what SLC did different from what St. Pete or Tupelo did? That “first” makes me itch a little.

 

[Azrael]

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/07/t...-for-all-model-after-acquiring-a-utah-weekly/

 

[Azrael]

It can work. It'll bend in the coverage preferences and cultural tastes of the major donors - nonprofit media will rarely be for the rank-and-file, rock-n-roll crowd - but it may be a way forward in larger cities.

A large percentage of AP's national coverage this year is subsidized by private foundations.

How is what SLC did different from what St. Pete or Tupelo did? That “first” makes me itch a little.

The Associated Press - founded 1846 - has always been a non-profit co-op, has it not?

 

[justgladtobehere]

I posted about a trust buying almost every daily paper in Maine. I think daily paaper's should link up with public radio stations. The local stations do good news. Why repeat the same product.

 

[Azrael]

 

[justgladtobehere]

Easy to spend other people's money.

The federal government paying or subsidizing the press?

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

They lost me at "only about $1.5b a year"

 

[Liut]

Easy to spend other people's money.

The federal government paying or subsidizing the press?

Sounds like certain radio stations to the left of the FM dial.

 

[Alma]

Easy to spend other people's money.

The federal government paying or subsidizing the press?

Kind of both.

And don't worry - it'd have exactly the political lean NPR does. The national press - in every local community.

Non-profit news is "the answer" until Republicans fully catch on and fund their own non-profit news orgs. Imagine the University of Austin in every other town as a news org.

 

[dixiehack]

Non-profit news is "the answer" until Republicans fully catch on and fund their own non-profit news orgs. Imagine the University of Austin in every other town as a news org.

We have more than one of those in our state already, maybe not strictly nonprofit but subsidized to a fare-thee-well. (God help anyone getting their information from the likes of Yellowhammer News.) More subtle but still insidious are “good news” sites like Alabama NewsCenter, which is bankrolled by the monopoly electric company and regards good news as that which pitches commercial and economic development as always positive regardless of any government giveaways needed.

 

[Azrael]

Imagine the University of Austin in every other town as a news org.

Plenty of right wing news outlets in plenty of towns now.

Not sure that a non-profit business model will change that.

 

[Azrael]

$500 million

https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/press-forward-launch-save-local-journalism

 

[Azrael]

 

[Regan MacNeil]

More bad news.

https://x.com/maxwelltani/status/1704649901458506006?s=20

 

[Azrael]

More bad news.

https://x.com/maxwelltani/status/1704649901458506006?s=20

It's a pretty good newsorg, but it's in a competitive market. Presumably the big donors want to see it stand on its own.

THE CITY — NYC News

We'll see.

 

[Azrael]

Good flyover from the Post here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/22/local-journalism-grants-millions/

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

The New Haven Independent has been doing a non-profit news model for 20 years (maybe more) and covers the Elm City better than the Register.