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2010 Utah L. Rev. 1315 (2010)
The Quest to Save Journalism: A Legal Analysis of New Models for Newspapers from Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Organizations to L3Cs

handle is hein.journals/utahlr2010 and id is 1323 raw text is: THE QUEST TO SAVE JOURNALISM: A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF NEW MODELS FOR NEWSPAPERS FROM NONPROFIT TAx-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS TO L3Cs Nikki Usher & Michelle D. Layser* I. INTRODUCTION The proliferation of online news sources masks a deepening crisis in American journalism. Newspapers, which continue to be the linchpin of original news reporting,' are facing unprecedented economic pressures-largely due to the rise of new media-that have forced nearly all major newspapers to lay off large numbers of journalists, reduce the scope of coverage, and sometimes cease operating entirely. The current economic crisis has only exacerbated existing forces already undermining the viability of the newspaper industry. The traditional support from commercial advertising and paper subscription base now seems antiquated, and the question looming before American journalism is what the next operating model will be.2 As such, a broad spectrum of publicly minded individuals and institutions has tried to find solutions for the ailing industry.3 One proposal that has gained traction has been to allow commercial newspapers to qualify for tax exemption.4 What has been lacking thus far is a comprehensive legal analysis of what a tax-exempt nonprofit newspaper can and should look like. This Article seeks to fill that gap by explicating the viability, problems, and benefits of particular legal structures these nonprofit newspapers might employ. * 0 2010 Nikki Usher and Michelle D. Layser; Nikki Usher, M.A., is an Assistant Lecturer and doctoral candidate at University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Michelle Layser earned her J.D. (2009) from University of Southern California Law School and her LL.M. in Taxation (2010) from New York University Law School. The authors would like to thank Jill Manny, Ellen Aprill, Michael Shapiro, Herbert Gans, and Jennifer Seymour for their comments on this Article. 1 LEONARD DOWNIE & ROBERT KAISER, THE NEWS ABOUT THE NEWS: AMERICAN JOURNALISM IN PERIL 64 (2002). 2 See, e.g., Creating a New Model for Regional Journalism in America, THE FUTURE OF NEWS, http://thefutureofnews.ning.com/ (last visited Dec. 4, 2010); Scott Smith, CMFC Videos Are Up!, THE CHI. MEDIA FUTURE CONF. (July 23, 2009), http://www.chicagomediafuture.org/; The 2010 Future of the News and Civic Media Conference @ MTT, CENTER FOR FUTURE CIVIC MEDIA, http://civic.mit.edu/ conference2010 (last visited Dec. 3, 2010); Workshop: Future of the News, CENTER FOR INFO. TECH. POL'Y, http://citp.princeton.edu/future-of-news/ (last visited Dec. 3, 2010). 3 See, e.g., sources cited supra note 2. 4 Chris Bowers, The Non-profit Future ofNews, OPEN LEFT (June 4, 2009, 3:48 PM), http://www.openleft.com/diary/1 3628/the-nonprofit-future-of-news; Carol Guensburg, Nonprofit News, AM. JOURNALISM REV. (Feb.IMar. 2008), http://www.ajr.org/article.asp? id=4458. 1315

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