The Nieman Foundation reports on how a plan to save the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review newspaper through a conversion to a nonprofit foundered, leading to a “newsroom revolt.”
“The transition to Comma Community Journalism Lab was cast in media industry publications not only as a way to save Spokane’s daily newspaper, but as part of a growing movement to resurrect dying papers by making them less dependent on ads and corporate ownership and more on philanthropy and community partnerships,” write reporters Wilson Criscione and Daisy Zavala Magana.
Leading the effort was the now-suspended executive editor, Rob Curley. Journalists at the Spokesman-Review “said stories that might have angered powerful community figures or potential donors were killed or curtailed, and that they felt [Curley] retaliated against workers he viewed as disloyal.”
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