To our readers:
A commentary by Col. Patrick Cashman appeared in the Times Argus on Dec. 6 suggesting that the IRS had no business granting the Vermont Journalism Trust dba VTDigger.org nonprofit status. A version of his commentary, in the form of a letter, ran in the Rutland Herald on Dec. 14.
The commentary challenges the judgment of the federal agency, based on Col. Cashman’s understanding of IRS rules, and further tries to make the case that VTDigger’s stated mission is somehow inconsistent with the writer’s vision of free market capitalism.
Vermonters and VTDigger’s thousands of daily readers and hundreds of donors seem to feel otherwise.
The nonprofit model for news isn’t new. It has been used by public television and radio and newspapers like the St. Petersburg Times. What is new and different in this instance is the platform — the Internet. The erosion of the economic model for traditional journalism, along with newspaper ownership migration from family stewards such as the Mitchells and the Sulzbergers to larger media conglomerates simply to add revenue and advertising real estate to their portfolios, is well documented in countless journalism trade papers and journals.
Col. Cashman would surely acknowledge that a free and vigorous press is fundamental to a functioning democracy. Whether its survival is rooted in the for-profits, like CBS, Murdoch or MSNBC, or the nonprofit world, like Pro Publica, NPR or the Texas Tribune, is specious, unless of course, like Col. Cashman, you believe that the nonprofit world is a pernicious threat to the free market.
The Vermont Journalism Trust was founded four years ago by a group of Vermont journalists and news consumers concerned about the decline of daily news reporting and coverage of the three branches of Vermont government. At the same time, Anne Galloway, the recently laid-off editor of the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus, had just founded her own online enterprise modeled after The New Haven Independent and the Texas Tribune. Her choice to become a nonprofit was driven by several factors — the failure of online commercial papers to effectively stem their losses, the success of the two aforementioned nonprofits and the success of the public broadcasting model at filling in gaps in news and information presented by the commercial networks’ declining interest in and investment in news. Perhaps Col. Cashman has equal disdain for the public broadcasting model.
Col. Cashman makes statements that are simply ill-informed, such as VTDigger pays no taxes, VTDigger has secret donors, and VTDigger news is bought. None of which are accurate.
As a 501(c)3, VTDigger pays Social Security, Medicare and payroll taxes on behalf of its employees, but because it is a nonprofit, it pays no income tax. All donations to the Vermont Journalism Trust dba VTDigger, whether from a foundation or an individual, are disclosed. Donations under $100 are available on request. Charitable donations are partially tax deductible, but cost donors that portion of the donation that is not deductible. No examples are given to support the implication that VTDigger’s news has been “bought.”
We welcome any inquiries into our policies and sources of revenue, including Col. Cashman’s, and we remain committed to filling gaps in news, information, data and diverse opinion for Vermonters.
Respectfully,
Bill Schubart, Chair
VT Journalism Trust dba VTDigger.org
