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.
I’ve been working for dailies for a long time. This could potentially be a big deal. But, it has to be an outlier since most media doesn’t have the luxury of private ownership.
Beware the temptation to think of non-profits as an escape from the venality and short-sightedness of MBA culture. Too many such institutions are run by starfuckers who court billionaires while ignoring symptoms of myopic management, like high turnover among their staff.
I don’t know the industry and didn’t read the article, but that won’t stop me from commenting!
Maybe this is not so unlike what we have in these parts with Minnesota Public Radio. That institution is a non-profit, and by what I can see through the thick of my obviously urban hipster liberal bias, is stewarded by thoughtful people who succeed in retaining A-list talent and issue some of the best reporting in the region. I hope it works out for Philly.
An interesting article on profit vs non-profit business: http://nonprofitwithballs.com/2015/12/hey-you-want-nonprofits-to-act-more-like-businesses-then-treat-us-like-businesses/