Last week, Jim Barnett raised a question about nonprofit journalism: What makes it legit? How do we know if a nonprofit news outlet shares the ideals and culture of traditional journalism, and how can we make sure we don’t get fooled by advocacy groups disguised as objective journalists?
It’s a difficult question — the Internet makes [...]

Public notices, those tiny-type blurbs announcing zoning issues, licensing applications and public meetings, seem anachronistic in our database-driven world. Does anyone use them? Can anyone use them, with that crammed-in text? They’re a long-term accepted oddity that persists today. When Geoff Cowan and David Westphal came out with their report last week on government’s historic [...]

You know the old saying about how we’re from the government and we’re here to help you? That’s what came to mind as I read the Federal Trade Commission’s notice for its workshop on journalism in the digital age.
The notice makes the case that “news organizations,” which it notably does not attempt to define, are [...]

We are not lacking deep lamentations and grand plans for the future of journalism (clever commentary is abundant as well). New additions to this canon appear weekly, and many have a reactionary bent with lots of chest thumping and hand wringing. It’s often a bit much — which is why the appearance of a long-view, [...]

The title of a bill introduced by my U.S. Senator tells me most of what I need to know about how its focus is misguided:
The Newspaper Revitalization Act
Proposed tagline: “Newspapers: Let’s breathe a little life into this patient.”
At its core, the idea isn’t entirely harebrained, especially the notion of making it possible for people to [...]