A Second Great Age of Patronage

Clay Shirky, the NYU prof and journalism's Nostradamus, has a wonderful essay in the Cato Institute's online magazine that lays out the implications of how the subsidization of journalism is changing the craft in ways we won't fully understand for decades to come.

Some of his most tantalizing insight touches on the nonprofit model and the impact that nonprofits can have in the chaos that will follow the demise of newspapers. Please do read the entire essay. But here's a shortcut to the most salient bit, which follows his prediction of a "second great age of patronage":

In an age where the cost of making things public has fallen precipitously, patronage models suddenly look not just viable but eminently reproducible. The leverage to be gotten from motivations other than profit is now growing rather than shrinking; a poorly capitalized journalistic weblog is now likelier to reach a million readers than a well-funded but traditional journalistic outfit is.

Is this a good thing? A bad thing? Herein lies the Shirky genius. He doesn't tell us. And the difficult truth is that we have no way of knowing. Clearly, he sees a world in which the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Fords have an opportunity to preserve socially responsible journalism - or corrupt it into something that serves their own vision of truth, however worthy or not.

The lesson here, of course, is that the future of socially responsible journalism remains in the hands of those who care most about it. From the Medicis on down, patronage has had its pros and its cons. It's up to the practitioners to draw the ethical boundaries.

The Council on Foreign Relations Model

I had a chance recently to chat with Penny Abernathy, the UNC-Chapel Hill professor who recently presented a paper on four nonprofit models for The New York Times. The paper, for those who haven't read it, presents itself modestly, but is nothing short of a roadmap to survival for newspapers that take investigative and watchdog reporting seriously.

Abernathy spent her early career as a reporter, and it shows: Her paper, presented at a conference at Duke University, is scrupulously evenhanded, and it's nearly impossible to tell which if any of the four models she presents she likes or dislikes. But as we talked, it became clear she sees great promise in a nonprofit model for newspapers based on the Council on Foreign Relations, the venerable New York think tank.

The way Abernathy sees it, a CFR-type nonprofit could be set up by a handful of major newspapers as a home for topic-expert reporters who would share their work across media. Rather than limiting them to one venue - the newspaper - the nonprofit could continue to employ them as they move from breaking news to magazine-style story to published book - collecting revenue all along the way. And like CFR, the nonprofit could host conferences and pull in corporate sponsorships as well.

To be clear, Abernathy did not single out this as a solution to the challenges faced by the Times. The hardest part about getting newspapers on board is getting their editors to stop thinking in terms of scoops and exclusives, she said. "They're still thinking the old way," she said.

Investigate West Launches

A group of former Seattle Post-Intelligencer editors and reporters today launched Investigate West, a nonprofit that plans to do investigative stories from the environmental, social justice and health beats. To be sure, there is a lot of overlap, especially in the western states they plan to cover.

The new outfit plans to fund itself through a mix of foundation support, content sales and memberships, according to an article on Poynter Online. In the first year, $850,000 of the $1.35 million budget would come from foundations.

So far, Poynter reports, only a $3,000 grant is in hand. "We're not laboring under the illusion that all we have to do is set up shop, start doing great stories and everything will be all right," says Rita Hibbard, the executive director and editor.

DinnerGate and the Nonprofit Fallout

It may be easy enough to blow off the recent controversy surrounding the Washington Post's "salons" as the work of a marketing department run amok. But the narrative of the past week or so should strike fear into the heart of every budding nonprofit publisher and journalist.

Why? Look at any journalism nonprofit's business plan - at least those who are willing to share - and you're almost certain to see a plan to host member events, idea-fests or corporate sponsorships of some sort. The only difference between those events and what Post publisher Katharine Weymouth had in mind is the amount that attendees expect to spend and the quality of the hors d'ouvres.

I'm not saying that journalism nonprofits should drop the idea of hosting events as a pillar of their development plans. And I don't mean to be a scold. But given the potential for the appearance of conflict, journalism nonprofits need to be extra careful in how they market such events and, in doing so, not underestimate the clout they wield in their communities.

There are no bright lines here. And if you don't believe me, read David Bradley, publisher of The Atlantic, trying to create one in his recent column about the magazine's mover-and-shaker dinners. I'm sure his line of argument sells in D.C., but in Peoria, forget it.

This is an amazing, promising time for nonprofit journalism. If this kind of controversy surrounded a nonprofit publisher - which it easily might have - it could easily undermine a movement.

Westphal Report: Role of Foundations

David Westhpal, USC fellow and former D.C. bureau chief for McClatchy, has issued a tinely report on foundations' role in supporting journalism.

No surprises here: Saving journalism, he finds, is a bigger task than all of U.S. philanthropy is able to take on. And we learn that we may be entering a "gray age" of information in which newspapers and other legacy media cut budgets faster than other sources can fill the void.

But the parts that may be most interesting are those in which Westphal explores some possible new models in interviews with leaders of the St. Petersburg Times and Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization that is stepping into a new role as content producer. He also dives deeper into the notion of specialty nonprofits a la Kaiser Health News.

In any case, it's a well written, informative narrative, and it shines some light on what the field of journalism looks like from the point of view of foundations at the national and community levels.

For more info, here's the official press release on Westphal's report.

Pocantico Declaration

Another big step in the process of scaling up: After meeting for the past three days at the Rockefeller Foundation's Pocantico Conference Center, about three dozen editors and publishers of nonprofit news organizations today issued a declaration of their intent to build a first-ever Investigative News Network.

I'll let the Pocantico Declaration speak for itself, but the upshot is that there is a lot of room for collaboration among journalism nonprofits - everything from sharing news and information to combining back office functions such as benefits. There's even a mention of doing joint fundraising. It's an ambitious agenda.

The next big goal is to create a new, nonprofit corporation to coordinate this work. Until then, the Center for Public Integrity will act as the network's agent.

For more on the conference, David Westphal has a post on his site at USC-Annenberg. Hashtag for Twitter is #inewsnet.

(Hat tip to Andrew Donohue at voiceofsandiego.org for his Twitter tip on this.)

Another Nonprofit in San Diego

Interesting development in San Diego. The daily dead-tree Union-Tribune is spinning off an investigative unit as a nonprofit that will be headed by Lorie Hearn, the current editor of the U-T's investigative team, and will be called "The Watchdog Institute."

The U-T is giving the new organization a "substantial financial commitment" to start the operation, according to a report on voiceofsandiego.org, and as an "official partner," will get first dibs on its output. The organization might be housed at San Diego State University.

Hearn insists that "This is not the Union-Tribune's non-profit," according to VOSD. But this clearly is new territory for newspapers, which are struggling to pay for content that continues to make them at least a marginally compelling read. As VOSD reported: "(I)t doesn’t appear that any newspaper has developed as tight of a relationship with a non-profit organization as The Watchdog Institute expects to have with the U-T."

There was some predictably cynical reaction posted last night to a similar report on the San Diego Reader. Some accused the U-T of using the new structure as a backdoor means to layoffs, and another called it "a journalistic pitbull-puppy mill."

The downside - especially for VOSD - is that the new organization will be poised to compete for donor dollars within the San Diego philanthropic community.

But on the upside, here is a newspaper that at least appears to be trying something creative to preserve its role as a community watchdog rather than simply laying off staff or closing down altogether. While some newspapers have partnered with nonprofits - witness the Washington Post and ProPublica - this pushes much deeper into hybrid territory.

Several years ago, I pushed a very similar idea for a Washington, D.C., bureau. If this works, maybe it will inspire somebody to try covering the federal government again.

The new organization is expected to begin operations in the fall.