Jeff Gammage, writing for Philly.com:

The owner of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com has donated the news organizations to a newly created media institute, the core of a complicated transaction designed to ensure that quality journalism endures in Philadelphia for generations.

The move places the region’s dominant news-gatherers under the auspices of the nonprofit Philadelphia Foundation.

“Of all the things I’ve done, this is the most important,” said H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, sole owner of Philadelphia Media Network, which runs the newspapers and website. “Because of the journalism.”

Most importantly:

The new alignment – while unique and untested – sets out mechanisms by which public-interest reporting can be preserved and enhanced while new electronic distribution methods are developed.

This is a groundbreaking business model for newspapers. The skeptic inside me questions the financial aspects of the deal. If the paper lost money as a for-profit vehicle, how will it pay the bills as a non-profit? But there are answers to these questions, apparently. Time will tell. If this works, this could be a way for the news business to survive while still serving the public interests.