How to Save The New York Times, Let’s Buy the Newsroom

PJNet by Leonard Witt | Jan. 31, 2009 (Opinion)

On The New York Times op-ed pages yesterday there was an opinion piece about setting up a $5 billion endowment to perpetually provide the Times with a $200 million annual payout to support the newsroom. I have a better idea.

Right now the Times has approximately a circulation of about 1 million. To have it delivered can cost a subscriber as much as $600 a year. What if The New York Times said we want to put the newsroom into a cooperative trust ... Full Story »

Posted by Dale Penn

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3.7

by Fabrice Florin - Feb. 1, 2009

Interesting opinion about a new approach to funding an endowment to support struggling newspapers, in response to the NY Times article on this topic (see link).

I don't know if Len's idea works from a business standpoint, but it certainly is the right approach -- thinking outside the box to figure out a way to fund public journalism with active participation from citizens.

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3.0

by Michael Bugeja - Feb. 1, 2009

Leonard Witt is capable of more than this, especially since he has touted online/citizen journalism and should understand the platform of Internet from a philosophical as well as commercial perspective. The platform is such that information is vended online for free while information about information generates revenue. Until those who advocate for online journalism deal with that reality, everything else--including this--is a failed business model.

I have provided links on the nature of the platform, including an essay noting my objections thereto. What Witt has to deal with, and which he consistently avoids, is how newsgathering will change from truth superceding authority to revenue superceding truth.

We own the newsroom, the New York Times owns everything else and the governance for the newsroom would remain much the way it has been in the past. More »

Disclosure: Michael is involved in this story (review not included in overall rating).

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2.0

by Norman Rogers - Jan. 31, 2009

We already have public radio and public TV. If we are going to have a public newspaper we have to get rid of the current management and demand some balance rather than total partisanship.

My sincere hope is that the NYT goes out of business or it is bought by Rupert Murdoch. I can't think of any media more destructive and unbalanced than the NYT.

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4.0

by Dale Penn - Jan. 31, 2009

Dale posted this story.

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3.6

by Caley Anderson - Feb. 1, 2009

The piece itself is short and more of a thought experiment than a news story. The author uses numbers that work to his advantage and are disputed in the comments, but it doesn't change the genius of his idea.

The article itself is short and well done, but the real value is in the comments. The author and those leaving comments engage in a high-level discussion about the topic of news room ownership that brings to light other points of view and help me re-evaluate what I've just read. It's a great format for this kind of thought experiment.

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3.3

by Ceci Park - Feb. 1, 2009

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3.2

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News You Can Endow

New York Times by David Swensen, Michael Schmidt | Jan. 28, 2009 (Opinion)

() Today, we are dangerously close to having a government without newspapers. American newspapers shoulder the burden of considerable indebtedness with little cash on hand, as ...

Posted by Fabrice Florin

3.9

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