One solution is purchase by local private investors, which has already happened at the Philadelphia Inquirer and which may occur at the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.

Though some see private investors as saving the papers through their local interest and community connections, as well as for their own voice, others speculate that their motive may be to suck them dry; getting as much money as possible out of the paper while not caring a lick for the editorial quality, essentially running it into the ground.

But what is the answer if private buyers are bad for the papers? According to Advertising Age’s Simon Dumenco, public trusts. Dumenco proposes that tax laws be “overhauled” so ultra-rich potential buyers can contribute to papers but not own them. This follows the same idea of The Scott Trust’s ownership of British daily The Guardian, which has been quite successful without private owners.  

In theory, public groups like The Scott Trust allow papers to keep journalistic integrity keeping potential owner bias out of the news. “We need systematic charitable scale to ensure the survival of newspaper journalism in this country,” said Dumenco. “Many newspapers have, figuratively speaking, become total charity cases -- so let's just face reality and figure out the best way to make them literally so.”

Source: Advertising Age