Upon hearing the news that his half-century journalism career would end with a pink slip, San Diego Union-Tribune newsman Neil Morgan got to work. Together with his friends Buzz Wooley  and former Sacramento Bee reporter Barbara Bry (r.), Mr. Morgan launched Voice of San Diego, a non-profit online news publication. Mr. Morgan hopes that the site will come to compete with his former employer:

“It has actually provided a very distinctive, fresh, enlightened voice to the people who care about this community. They’ve latched onto it as a progressive and forward-looking, unlike some existing media,” he said…

Although Woolley initially thought about creating Voice of San Diego as a print publication, Bry said the decision to publish exclusively online was easy to make.

“Number one newspaper readership is declining and number two the cost of printing and distribution is much bigger than what we’re spending.”

Voice of San Diego considers itself “interactive,” but it does not host blogs on its site.

“I think all of us at Voice agree that blogging has a reputation that is quite different from disciplined news coverage,” said Morgan. “I think the egalitarian nature of the blogging means everyone has an equal voice, and that’s fine for a basis of founding a democracy but it’s lousy in terms of getting proper news coverage.”

Adds Bry: “We shied away from doing a blog because I’m worried that it will be taken over on a fringe element by one side or another.”

Instead, their version of interactivity funnels through two sections. Voice publishes 99 percent of (edited) letters to the editor, and it invites experts in the community to write free for a “Contributing Voices” section. The current list speaks to the site’s influential audience: it includes a litany of PhD’s in multiple fields, as well as business and social leaders.

The emergence of online alternative media is not isolated to Southern California. In fact, some journalism scholars see the non-profit model as the future of newsgathering should newspapers fail to adapt to changing times:

So, the big question these days is: Who’s going to take over that role if traditional newspapers flounder in their ability to fund good journalism? Perhaps the non-profit world will step in, one argument goes. We can of course already look to the likes of the BBC, CBC, NPR, and other public-funded news organizations to do good journalism.

Is Voice of San Diego a harbinger of news reporting to come? As explained on the site, “Initial funding comes from San Diego foundations and individuals, a structure which allows Voice to be independent and nonpartisan. Long-term, Voice will rely on a combination of individual donations, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, and advertising.”

Should things turn really sour for newspapers in the years ahead, will non-profit news organizations fill the gap for serious reporting left open by the traditional news industry?

Such scholars, along with new-media savvy, old-guard journalists like Mr. Morgan, have perked some ears on Capitol Hill where lawmakers like Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) are trying to allow newspapers to reorganize as non-profits.

Tags: Journalism, New Media, news website, non-profit, Sacramento Bee, San Diego, San Diego Union-Tribune, Voice of San Diego

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Featured.