"Recently, an intriguing idea has taken seed.

While not a novel idea, turning newspapers into tax-exempt nonprofits could be just what the doctor ordered, some say.

David Swenson, who managed a massive endowment as chief investment officer at Yale University, told the Associated Press in March that if newspapers were to become nonprofits dependent on large endowments, it "would enhance newspapers' autonomy while shielding them from the economic forces that are now tearing them down."

As I've watched colleagues and friends lose their jobs at newspapers over the past year, I've thought a lot about what newspapers could do to survive.

One model that's caught my attention is the tribal-owned newspaper.

I have to say, I can't think of a single reporter for a tribal-owned newspaper who has been laid off in the past year.

Does that mean tribal-owned newspapers are a best-practices model?"

Get the Story:
Kevin Abourezk: Could Tribal-Owned Media Save Newspapers? (RezNet News 5/7)

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