Steve Coll of The New Yorker reacts to the proposition that The New York Times should adopt a non-profit business model. This idea has been proposed by Penelope Muse Abernathy, the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media at the University of North Carolina.
Mr. Coll sees hope for the Times, but he argues that there isn’t one specific model that will work. For the Times, which is very expensive to print and deliver, to survive it needs to adopt elements of four strategies.
In the end, the future of the Times will only be secured if its owners lead courageously. Such a future cannot be constructed by a single model, but by an adaptable, creative vision aimed at preserving the things that matter about the paper—its values, its journalists, its coverage, and its audience—while gradually constructing a transition to new distribution systems and new generations of online, twittering readers. Perhaps this can be achieved commercially by hanging on until the recession ends, and then competing and adapting in a more favorable advertising and credit environment; I have my doubts. The alternative course is outlined by Abernathy—not in any of her particular straw man-type models, but in a blended approach involving two or even three of them—a down-payment endowment, if possible; a C.F.R. [Council on Foreign Relations] -type fund-raising model backed by covenants to protect independent journalism, almost certainly; university affiliation, perhaps; a private investor or partner motivated by something other than maximum return on capital, perhaps.
Mr. Coll has analyzed this issue before in the context of The Washington Post.
From before: Jack Shafer of Slate channels Lance Turner of Arkansas Business.