Jack's Journal - September 2020
Nonprofit Journalism – an Interview with CT Mirror Publisher Bruce Putterman
Jack Horak
Director of Nonprofit Education & Consulting
TANGO
In the December 2019 edition of TANGO TRENDS, I wrote a piece welcoming the Connecticut Mirror to the membership at TANGO. If you are not familiar with the Mirror, it is an online tax-exempt “newspaper” that qualifies for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3). Here is a link to its Website: https://ctmirror.org/
Nonprofit journalism has emerged in a big way over the last 15 or 20 years as technology and societal changes have made print journalism on a for-profit basis very difficult to sustain.
My perspective on the trendlines is that print for-profit newspaper journalism will continue its decline. When it comes to local and regional news, opening upmarket space for nonprofit publications to see if they can fill in the gap.
What I particularly like about nonprofit journalism is the fact that organizations cannot qualify under Section 501(c)(3), unless they operate on a completely disinterested basis free from the commercialism that feeds off politics.
TANGO is committed to supporting nonprofit journalism generally, and the Connecticut Mirror specifically. I will be writing articles for both the Mirror and for TANGO trends in which I explore the applicable tax law and financing models to see if we can assist both.
To this end, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Bruce Putterman, the publisher of the Mirror, and we took our time to reflect on these fast-paced developments. You can watch the video below.
In the meantime, please consider enrolling to receive the Mirror in your email and also consider making regular contributions to help it defray its expenses.
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CONTACT
TANGO
Jack Horak
Director of Nonprofit Education & Consulting
TANGO – The Alliance for Nonprofit Growth & Opportunity
135 South Road
Farmington, CT 06032
877-708-2646
tangoalliance.org