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Salt Lake Tribune Seeks To Become Nonprofit News Organization

KPCW Radio

After changes in ownership, staff layoffs and steady declines in revenue, the Salt Lake Tribune is pursuing nonprofit status to breathe new life into the 148-year-old newspaper. 

Salt Lake Tribune editor Jennifer Napier-Pearce says she and publisher Paul Huntsman started looking at a nonprofit model for the paper a year ago. There are two parts to the process. First, the creation of the Utah Journalism Foundation endowment, which will act as an umbrella organization to fund journalism projects. Napier-Pearce says other papers have set up this sort of funding source.  

What’s never been done before is transforming a newspaper into a 501(c)(3) organization, governed by a community board of directors. Napier-Pearce says, pending approval by the IRS, this nonprofit status will open different doors to fundraising.

“We’ve had print advertising and subscriptions really bolster—that's been the business model for legacy newspapers for decades," Napier-Pearce said. "It's not working. It's broken, and so we need a third leg to that stool, and we think philanthropy is that key.”

Community-funded news isn’t new—it’s the model public radio operates on. But the paper probably won’t start having pledge drives. Currently, the Tribune has an online paywall that limits access to readers after they’ve read seven articles in a month. The Tribune offers several subscription options, including for online access and the print edition. Napier-Pearce says the Tribune has an agreement with the Salt Lake City Public Library system to give free access to anyone with a City library card, but the paper can’t afford to give unlimited access to everyone.

“However, we do need to sustain a high-level newsroom with a lot of reporters," Napier-Pearce said. "That's our mission, and so that is why we think that the subscription model will continue to work for us.”

Many uncertainties accompany this undertaking, including what happens when the Tribune’s joint-operating agreement with the Deseret News—under which the two papers share printing services—expires in 2020. Napier-Pearce says the terms of the agreement are currently being renegotiated, but if it’s financially possible, the Tribune will continue to print a paper.

“That is a core part of our audience," Napier-Pearce said. "We love our print readers and subscribers, and we want to provide that product for as long as it’s feasible.”

The Tribune lost a third of its staff, mostly reporters and editors, in last year’s layoff. Napier-Pearce anticipates adding staff back to the newsroom as a result of the new funding model.

Emily Means hadn’t intended to be a journalist, but after two years of studying chemistry at the University of Utah, she found her fit in the school’s communication program. Diving headfirst into student media opportunities, Means worked as a host, producer and programming director for K-UTE Radio as well as a news writer and copy editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.