Every syndication dollar earned is another dollar that doesn’t have to be wrung out of highly competitive advertising markets. Importantly, the syndication dollars derive from what journalism organizations do best: create high-quality content. The big notion: create better-than-good-enough content, the kind of stuff that is beginning to flood the web. It’s another way to affirm worth: the more companies that want to use your content, the clearer the value proposition in the digital world….Some have said that in the digital world, news companies need to think of themselves both as creators and aggregators, doing what they do best and linking to the rest. Let’s amend that: creators, aggregators and syndicators, doing what they do best, licensing with zest and linking to the rest.

For those keeping track of such things, take note: Journalism is about to get its first low-profit, limited liability corporation company, or L3C.
The new Chicago News Cooperative, unveiled on Thursday by former Chicago Tribune managing editor Jim O’Shea, will begin life as a nonprofit, but will change over to an L3C after Jan. 1, when [...]