Throw us a life line, Google, part II

This is sort of a follow-up to Tuesday's blog entry: "Could Google bail out struggling newspaper industry?" I found another thought-provoking take on how Google might help journalism.Dan Froomkin, a contributor to the Nieman Foundation of Journalism's Watchdog blog, has interesting suggestions for Google and its CEO, Eric Schmidt. One of Froomkin's ideas -- the possibility of newspapers joining the non-profit sector with help from Google -- is fascinating, and a little scary. Besides obvious questions about how to fund and restructure newspapers as non-profit organizations, there would be a slew of questions about a newspaper's mission in such an environment. Another consideration: Under current tax laws, non-profits may not endorse candidates for elected positions, something newspapers do as a matter of course. But overall, I suppose, like most non-profits, we'd focus on doing what we think is best for society and the common good. After re-reading our vision statement, I'm not sure how much we'd need to change that focus.