Non-profits the future of news?

The federal budget’s bid to aid the journalism industry for $10 million a year for the next five years makes me feel funny inside. The funding is aimed at supporting local journalism and areas underserved when it comes to day-in, day-out local news reporting.

I got my start in the industry working for what is now called Postmedia, so I can’t help but have a personal chuckle at CEO Paul Godfrey’s ranting and raving on CBC for not getting the bailout he wanted.

I don’t know how he finds the capacity to take large bonuses after shuttering newspapers and then gets on TV to say funding would be better off in his hands.

Regardless of my personal ire towards Godfrey, many other prominent industry figures echoed his concerns on the somewhat loose definition of where this funding would go, who would get it and why it seemingly ignored industry recommendations like New Media Canada’s ask for $350 million in a reformation of the Canadian Periodical Fund.

The subject is murky and could be looked at many different ways, but couched in what some have characterized as a “journalism bailout” was an interesting concept: loosening up the rules around news organizations attaining charitable status.

Could news rejigged into the framework of local non-profits be the way forward for local news?

By no means would this mark an end to private media establishments who can make their own way on advertising or other revenue, but brass tacks journalism (covering council, courts, police and other public institutions) is a societal pillar.

Getting out from under economic pressures, low staffing levels and other factors plaguing the industry these days could lead to reporters spending more time on stories and getting to dig in deeper.

Accountability questions are always raised when it comes to funding journalism. For instance, would an upstart publication be as willing to rail on the government that just gave them a slice of that $10-million pie? But non-profit organizations would translate similarly to the current advertising structure most newspapers have now.

Instead of profits being distributed to CEOs (like our good friend Godfrey) and higher-ups, they would circle back into funding new voices and young journalists, travel expenses and equipment to allow journalists to tell the stories that need to be told.

There is a lot more media criticism and distrust right now than any time I’ve been on this planet, and, hey, it’s good to be critical of public institutions. But if we’re going to be scrutinized like a public institution and act as one, then maybe our funding models should match.

One thing is for certain: Things cannot continue sustainably in the industry as they are now. The most frustrating part of the distrustful attitudes towards media I encounter is that we are all supposed to be on the same side.

The media’s relationship with the public is symbiotic and something’s gotta give, so maybe the move to non-profit news can help bring those altruistic ideals I had once upon a time to a reality.

Dale Boyd is an idealistic reporter at The Herald