Innovation in Journalism Goes Begging for Support

[Commentary] Journalism has a shortage of many things: capital, advertisers and, in some instances, readers. But certainly its most precious commodity is innovation. Again and again, the business struggles to get out of the rut that put it on a road to ruin in the first place. Setting aside the issue of whether foundations should finance profit-making organizations, it is worth noting that many promising journalistic operations have foundered on the regulatory shoals of the Internal Revenue Service, with its bizarre standards for deciding whether an organization qualifies for nonprofit status. A broader question lurks as well. Shouldn’t financing meant for journalistic innovation go to the green shoots and not be used to fertilize giant dead-tree media?