on the other hand: consider the non-profit

By now you have clearly heard of the plan to save journalism hatched by wealthy investor F. Warren Hellman, KQED-FM, San Francsico's NPR station, and UC Berkeley's journalism school. (If not, read about it in this piece by Richard Perez-Pena in The New York Times last month.)

Funded by a $5 million grant from Hellman, the project will combine the labors of the j. school interns and KQED-FM's staff to produce the kind of Bay Area news that has begun to disappear with the shrinking of the local daily newspapers.

Innovative, yes. Especially at a time when the news industry is desperate for solutions to keep it on life support. But still: Do we really want to turn investigative news-gathering over to interns? Or will their contributions be more like the stuff we read in the free weeklies that used to sit in our driveway for days? Does KQED-FM have the staff to adequately vet their stories and supervise their work? And what kind of credibility problems could arise when the whole project is funded by one donor. Will he keep his hands off?

In the words of one of my esteemed colleagues:

It's great to see people thinking of new ways to fund news
organizations, but I'm not sure this combination offers long-term
financial stability...a wealthy investor whose wealth fluctuates with
a troubled stock market, a cash-strapped public university, and an NPR
station that has had numerous funding problems over the years despite
being in one of the country's wealthiest areas. (See the stories on
KQED's financial problems related to its headquarters.) And while
corporate owners present all kinds of accountability issues, this
combination presents a whole different set of potential accountability
problems.

In a less serious vein, but kind of not, the SF Weekly posts this somewhat snarky list of how Hellman's approach is likely to save journalism. No.5 reads as follows:

• Bank on the fact that college interns and former journalists will do anything to look important

"... it's guerilla journalism" -- Barbara Ehrenreich

Award-winning journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed" and most recently, "This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation", gave the commencement address to UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism class of 2009.

She recalls her own career, from the lean times when she did her research at the public library, to the fat times, when she made up to ten bucks a word writing for Time Magazine. And now, what she told Cal's newest graduates is that they had just entered America's working class. "You may never have a cleaning lady," she told the grads. "In fact, you might be one. I can’t tell you how many writers I know who have moonlighted as cleaning ladies or waitresses. And you know what? They were good writers. And good cleaning ladies too, which is no small thing."

She was told by the dean to be upbeat and optimistic -- in the face of journalism being portrayed by pundits as a dying industry. And she was. Inspiring too, though not in ways you might imagine. She suggested new journalists reimagine themselves. She ended her address with this:

... Which brings me back to the subject of journalism as a profession. We are not part of an elite, akin to movie stars, anchorpersons and hedge fund managers. We are part of the working class – which is exactly how journalists have seen themselves through most of American history– as working stiffs. We can be underpaid, we can be jerked around, we can be laid-off arbitrarily – just like any autoworker or mechanic or hotel housekeeper or flight attendant.

But there IS this difference: A laid-off autoworker doesn’t go into his or her garage and assemble cars by hand. But WE – journalists – we can’t stop doing what we do!

As long as there is a story to be told, an injustice to be exposed, a mystery to be solved, WE WILL FIND A WAY TO DO IT. And what is so special about YOU, compared to a grizzled old veteran like me, is that you possess a multitude of new skills so that you can invent and CREATE NEW WAYS TO DO IT.

A recession won’t stop us. A dying industry won’t stop us. Even POVERTY won’t stop us because we are ALL on a mission here. That’s the meaning of your Berkeley degree. Do not consider it a certificate promising some sort of entitlement. Consider it a LICENSE TO FIGHT.

And consider this day to be your induction into a kind of knighthood—or samurai brotherhood and sisterhood. You are not civilians any more. You are journalists, which means you are part of a worldwide, centuries-long fight for truth and justice.

In the 70s, it was gonzo journalism. For us right now, it’s GUERILLA journalism, and we will not be stopped.

photo credit: Sigrid Estrada