A new dawn for tomorrow’s news. Where does success lie? In the non-profit sector:
America will never have a BBC. The government funding isn’t there. What we do have, though, is a tremendous increase in enthusiasm and initiative that, in the age of the Internet, counts for more than transmitters and printing presses. The retreat of the giant corporations and conglomerates is creating the opportunity for fresh structures to emerge. It remains to be seen whether foundations, wealthy donors, and news consumers will step forward to support them. (Nonprofit Web sites and public broadcasters, it is worth noting, are, in effect, partly subsidized by the public, through the tax deductions taken for the grants and donations made to them.)
What about National Public Radio? It doesn’t have BBC’s scope but it has very high quality programming and news.
Dear Kfarz, NPR is mentioned in the article. I would definitely suggest reading the whole piece – the transition from for-profit news to non-profit institutions (like NPR) is quite rich. Best, Siena