The future of newspapers may well rest with whether owners see them as a business or as a mission.
Rumblings at the New York Times suggest that this inherent tension in the newspaper business is coming to the fore.
From the WashingtongPost.com: “Investors increased pressure on the New York Times Co. to scrap its venerated family-ownership structure, saying it has harmed the company’s value and is no longer accountable to public shareholders.”
I am no expert in the corporate structure of The New York Times Co. But I cannot see how giving investors more power over the firm, at the cost of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, can be good news for journalism.
This is not to say that newspapers should not make money. But newspapers are not like other businesses. Journalism has a civic and social duty. It is about more than the bottom line.
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