Salt Lake Tribune looks to go nonprofit

It will work in some markets and not in others.

 

I'm not sure what you guys think, but this just feels dirty. It feels like some suits have found a loophole to squeeze out a few more dollars before everything goes in the toilet.

 

We should probably all learn a little more about nonprofits generally, and nonprofit journalism specifically.

Pro Publica, Mother Jones, The Marshall Project, Texas Tribune, Harper's, the Atlantic, etc., are all nonprofits.

And these new nonprofit models might be what save our jobs going forward.

 

THIS!!

Non-Profit is NOT poor.
Many hospitals are non-profit. They keep they company slim, and get significant tax breaks (No property taxes, NO B&O taxes, etc.), but they still pay the CEOs, CFOs, Docs hundreds of thousand of dollars in salaries and bonuses.
Non-profit hospital marketing director here, who retired about decade go was making more than a $100,000 a year when he pulled the chute. ER docs making $400k plus .... CEO made $800,000 just annual salary.
That is the one advantage of non-profit status: the books, including salaries, are public.


That said: I doubt this means Salt Lake reporters are going to be getting raises due to the change of non-profit status.

 

At the expense of ripping off taxpayers? I think there are better ways to make a living.

 

In what way would a nonprofit Salt Lake City newspaper rip off taxpayers?

 

How will this bad?

 

The NFL is a non-profit organization. Are they also "ripping off taxpayers?"

 

Yes the NFL is ripping off taxpayers. They pay NO taxes. to fill that gap, we pay more.
So too, are churches.

I get the rational behind the newspapers being non-profits. It certainly makes more sense than churches being non-profits.

I don't like the idea of formerly for-profit entities (entities that used to see 20-30 percent profit margins), becoming tax-free money makers.

The more I think about it, maybe it won't be bad .. yet. Newspapers serve an important community service, but if no one is reading the physical paper, how effective is it?
I suspect the non-profit status is merely a way to boost profit-margins and stay afloat (I don't blame them) and keep investors happy. And, yes, provide news. Aside from these companies no longer paying taxes (property tax, inventory taxes, etc.), will anything change within their operations (bring back staff, bring down paywalls)?

I don't think so.

 

Now that I think about it, yes.

 

By not paying taxes.

 

Technically, the NFL gave up its non-profit status back in 2015. Each club - except for the Packers - was a;ready for profit by then. (Not that I think most cities/states get a revenue positive contribution from them, even indirectly.)