Advocacy Dollars for Journalism? No Thanks

According to a survey of news executives, many are concerned about how long their operations can stay in business given the current state of revenue problems. Fewer than half are confident their operations will survive another 10 years; a third worries about just the next five years. Despite this, most media executives are not willing to accept money from the government or advocacy groups. Fully 75% of news executives have serious reservations about receiving government subsidies, and 78% have significant reluctance to accept financing from interest groups. Half are concerned about government tax credits. More than a third are not comfortable with private donations. Newspaper executives are overwhelmingly concerned about direct government subsidies (a majority of broadcast executives also express concern), while more broadcast executives have reservations about private donations and non-profit foundation funding than do newspaper executives. Read More