Editor’s Note
Back in the old days — that’s less than a decade and before there were such things as blogs and interactive conversations with readers — editors used to respond to their newspaper readers with an “editor’s note.” Sometimes it clarified a point made in a letter to the editor. Sometimes it offered a correction. Sometimes it was just a simple explanation. An editor’s note was a handful of sentences; maybe a four or five paragraphs. It was always a personal link between the editor and the reader. Only difference between it and today’s blog is the immediacy and the platform. Welcome to Editor’s Note.

Archive for March 26th, 2009

Spare me from the non-profit newspaper

1 comment March 26th, 2009

Suppose Congress created a law that said newspapers could operate as some sort of not-for-profit? Sort of if the Rockford Register Star became like National Public Radio.

There’s been a flurry of discussion in the industry this week over a bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-MD. The bill-in-search-of-another sponsor is called the Newspaper Revitalization Act. It would, according to this story by Reuters writer Thomas Ferraro, “allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.

“Under this arrangement,” Ferraro continues, “newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.”

Please, no. As much as my heart would grasp at anything that would “save” the newspaper industry, being controlled by Congressional fiat is just plain wrong.

The one thing that separates us from every other business — and from radio and television — is that First Amendment. “Congress shall make no law ……” Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know there are lots and lots of laws affecting newspapers, but somehow I get deeply concerned when I think of having to be beholden to the politicians for our survival.

What we do every day ticks off someone. There’s plenty of “you should have done this instead of this” to go around. There’s way more than enough advice on why newspapers are in the trouble we’re in (often from people who are wishing us ill, or from competitors who can hardly hide their glee, even if they’re in worse trouble). There is, too, a dizzying merry-go-round of ideas on how to remake ourselves.

If we can’t do what we are supposed to do — gather, sort, prioritize and deliver news, information and advertising — and if no one wants that, or we can’t figure out the ways to make them want that, then we’ve got to fail. Oh, that hurt to write….. But, we just can’t be a government pawn.

I believe in my head and heart that we are not talking about the death of newspaper-style journalism. What we are experiencing in real time is the transformation of the old model to the new models (yes, multiple models) of gathering, sorting, prioritizing and delivering news, information and advertising.

It’s yucky to watch, but so is any form of birth.

Too often these days, my friends, foes and family wonder aloud how I’m holding up inside the implosion of the newspaper industry. I sometimes wish for the “old days,” when most everyone was screaming at me for something I’d done in the newspaper or on the Web site that they didn’t like. Now, it’s like they’re forgiving me because I am dying.

Stop it. I am not dying. I need your help and support; but not your sympathy. I love you for caring and I am grateful that Sen. Cardin wants newspapers to survive, but stop it. We are tough, ol’ birds.