"Stan Tiner on Calling for Help in a Headline, Editing the Daily Disappointment, and Forming a "Newsroom Trust"" - Columbia Jornalism Review

Part of CJR's larger interview with Stan Tiner, executive editor of Biloxi's Sun Herald:

I think the "Newsroom Trust" idea is one that still has value, perhaps more than ever. I don't think of it so much as a fantasy -- instead, I think it is a serious idea that deserves a broader discussion. . . . It begins with the premise that while a newspaper is a business, it is not just a business. The news and information a newspaper provides has a civic value that is separate and apart from any business or financial plan. In the modern era, where most newspapers exist in a publicly-held arena and are subject to market pressures that impact journalistic quality, it would be important to create a mechanism that protects the journalistic enterprise from those pressures. The Newsroom Trust would be that mechanism, providing for a universally agreed upon minimum funding base which would be regarded as sacrosanct and untouchable. The Trust would be based on a principle such as percentage of the local paper's profit margin, or share of the overall paper's annual budget. If all newspapers were subject to this requirement there would be no advantage gained from cutbacks in news-gathering activities. Those companies who wanted to spend more obviously could, but all would be expected to spend the minimal or foundational base amount to produce the news and information necessary to meet the civic needs of the communities served. There is a lot more to the idea, and I would welcome a discussion that might add other layers of thinking to how the trust might serve to protect the valuable journalistic franchise which I believe actually has a core financial worth in addition to its civic value.

More from Stiner and Geneva Overholser on this idea.