Comments on: Endowing Newspapers: What Are We Saving, Anyway?

By: Andrew Marshall

Andrew Marshall — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:52:42 +0000

The idea of a non-profit in the sense of, say, Human Rights Watch might not be a realistic possibility. But there are other forms of entity besides that and the joint-stock publicly traded company. The Guardian was run by a Trust for a long time. The form of ownership and the argument about business model, however, aren’t the same problem, and answering one doesn’t resolve the other.

By: Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs

Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:40:45 +0000

[...] Endowing Newspapers: What Are We Saving, Anyway? Of all of the reaction to the idea of endowing newspapers to drive their survival, I think I like Dan Gillmor’s the best. Related: Misunderstanding nonprofit news, an inside look at what being non-profit means. [...]

By: Bailout Cash for Newspapers? A Cure That Would Only Worsen the Underlying Disease… | Sips from the Firehose

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:11:32 +0000

[...] I posted this as a comment here, already, but it bears repeating. While the concept of a bailout for newspapers (and allegedly for good journalism) seems attractive at first blush, I fear that in practice, the billions in bailout funds would suffer the same fate as the billions bestowed upon the banking industry. [...]

By: Dan Gilmore on Endowing Newspapers: What Are We Saving, Anyway? at Klintron’s Brain

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:51:24 +0000

[...] Full Story: Center for Citizen Media [...]

By: Jon Garfunkel

Jon Garfunkel — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:19:19 +0000

re: “That the New York Times used its valuable op-ed space to showcase such shallow thinking by the Yale financial guys is depressing. At least their essay sparked some conversation. But please, let’s move onto realistic possibilities.”

Amen to that.

Re: the “cesspool” comment, that’s a classic, as in, did Schmidt realize that would be the soundbite from the whole talk? Paul Boutin of Valleywag chopped it down last October:

“Wait, what happened to the magic Google algorithm that reverse-engineers our reputations? Does it now rank pages by brand, too?”

By: Dave LaFontaine

Dave LaFontaine — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:37:48 +0000

While the concept of a bailout for newspapers (and allegedly for good journalism) seems attractive at first blush, I fear that in practice, the billions in bailout funds would suffer the same fate as the billions bestowed upon the banking industry.

That is, they would be swiftly pocketed in the form of “well-earned bonuses,” and only a few crumbs would make it down to the level where the money would actually do any good. While I’m not in the “burn baby, burn” camp the way many other digital triumphalists have been (and there’s at least a faint whiff of that hereabouts), I think that dumping fat stacks on media conglomerates will not solve the underlying problems of the crumbling of business models.

Now then – a Manhattan Project (of sorts) to build solid business models to support quality journalism? That would = the hoary “teaching a man to fish” paradigm.

I know faith in The Invisible Hand is in short supply these days (and where it can be found, it’s usually being in the stocks in the town square, being pelted by posters on Angryjournalist.com), but the fact is that there is a demand for something to perform the function of information dissemination that newspapers do/have done. If the Drug Wars have taught us anything, it is that where there is a demand, and money is attached to that demand, there will correspondingly be a supply.