Recommend John Nichols‘ essay on the future of newspapers in The Nation. Don’t be put off by his weak-sounding conclusions:
Civic-minded families may well have a better record of running newspapers than distant investors, but there aren’t enough wealthy philanthropists to go around, and besides, they aren’t all “civic minded.” Foundations and trusts, which control a handful of American newspapers, present a more interesting prospect. While the experience is limited, foundation-controlled newspapers such as the St. Petersburg Times do, for the most part, have better journalistic reputations than their competitors. Congress should concern itself particularly with developing policies that would make it easier–through shifts in approaches to taxation, postal subsidies and the often-abused “joint operating agreements” established in a number of larger cities to help maintain competition–for newspaper employees, unions and even community coalitions to buy, and perhaps even start, newspapers.