Can Paul Huntsman Save The Salt Lake Tribune?

I’m a long-time reader of the Trib, in print and on line (pay for both). Buying the Trib was old Jon Huntsman’s baby, it seems. I don’t think he would ever have slashed the newsroom like Paul did, not as long as he still had a dime in his pocket. I hope to god Paul’s plan succeeds because in a one party state we desperately need the Tribune’s independent voice. It is all around a better paper than the Des News ever was.

A 501(c)(3) organization by definition exists to provide a public good. It seems Mr. Huntsman is standing up for journalism as a necessary resource for a 21st-century community. As an insider, a Republican and a member of the dominant church, he may find less resistance to his approach than a blue-state publisher might suffer. I for one hope his new business model succeeds mightily and opens a new way for journalism to thrive in the future. It's good to be a pioneer.

Please don’t give up, Paul Huntsman. We need our Trib. My family will always subscribe because it supports our core values of community activism and free speech. p.s. I know lots of Mormon subscribers, so maybe we could ease up on the stereotyping here.

The Tribune's money problems, in my memory, began when it left its Main Street building and moved into new premises in a complex that - I think - was developed by Adnan Khashoggi. One wonders whether there are other costs that could be slashed besides reporters. Reporters produce the content and that IS the newspaper. Similarly, he seems to favor a digital-first approach but newspapers, like schools and universities, rarely seem to see IT costs (including the salaries of the IT staff) as optional or negotiable once they make those decisions. Every costly upgrade is "necessary."

Salt Lake City and Utah are complex places like no other and no story is complete without considering the significant and controlling influence of the Mormon church. In a sense it's understandable since it really is a world unto itself that cannot be fully understood by outsiders and that includes the NY Times. To help readers outside of Utah I offer this much. You are either a Mormon adherent in some fashion, an Anti-Mormon (a former Mormon or "Jack Mormon)) or an Outsider which both of the former groups refer to as "Gentiles." An Anti-Mormon is almost always vehemently against the Mormon church and angry at it. An Outsider is usually persona non grata in almost everything despite the Mormon way of pretending otherwise. This is relevant in reporting about the Salt Lake Tribune. I would suggest that Huntsman is not as much as odds as he would have you believe. Nothing happens in Utah without the church being involved in some manner. The Tribune has traditionally been the best hope "Gentiles" and Anti-Mormons have ever had at having some sort of voice in the area. Considered left of center is about the most you are permitted in Utah to have a public opinion. I wonder how turning the paper nonprofit will facilitate the Mormon church neutering that voice as nothing survives in Utah without their consent. Beware of any moves by a Republican Mormon especially one with wealth and church influence. For the record I am not and never have been Mormon merely an observer.

Utah appreciates the SL Tribune! Speaks truth to power.

I have always been impressed with the Huntsman family and their generous contributions to the country; however, I cannot imaging a more difficult job than to own a news source trying to be honest and decent within the Mormon culture. The two are simply not simpatico.

The Tribune should look to WestView Media, a small non-profit newspaper and website that covers the west side of Salt Lake City as it figures out how to go non-profit. Nothing would be better than for the most important newspaper in the City to educate itself with the lessons learned by one of its very small, but innovative neighbors.

Oh boy... Where to begin? First things first, no one calls the Salt Lake Tribune "The Trib." It's The Tribune. That's what it's called. That's what people call it. Second, there are tons of Democrats in Utah. Fully one third of the state wants nothing to do with Republicans. However, they don't read The Tribune either. The writing is generally poor. The journalism is amateurish. And either through editorial mistake or poor moderation, the paper always comes across as unreasonably radicalized in way you couldn't criticize local NPR stations for instance. Even among the left, people read The Tribune as a counter point, not a primary source of local news. Meanwhile, the Huntsman family has done a great amount of philanthropic good for Utah. However, the effort is largely associated with the general patriarchal paternalism so characteristic of the Mormon faith. You can hear an echo of that naivety when the younger Huntsman laments the absence of his father's guidance and again when we hear a privileged adult "rounds off" his education at Wharton. Nowhere does it register that Huntsman's decision to hypothetically save the minority voice in publishing is not normal. I actually can't recount how normal experiencing a devastating lack of awareness is when encountering Huntsman's crowd. It's shocking. I will say though. The LDS church is unsurprisingly good at turning non-profits into profitable institutions. Huntsman stands a fighting chance at saving The Tribune.

It seems puzzling that Berlin, with about 3M people, can support at least around four or five full service daily newspapers (and Germany has national dailies, too) while Utah, with about 3M people, can't support 1 newspaper.

I had not considered the National Public Radio approach to newspapers, but this would be a real breakthrough if they can pull it off and invent the 21st century model to sustain local independent and ethical journalism.

I suppose if anyone can help make the non-profit status a reality it would be Fraser Nelson. She was at one time in charge of Utah's (non-profit, federally mandated) advocacy and protection agency for people with disabilities and turned it around, into an excellent agency. I would expect the same result for the SLTrib.

Like others of his family, Mr Huntsman shows that there is still such a thing as "noblesse oblige" and that there are some wealthy people who are generous, rather than selfish.

Here in Utah we really need the Tribune to act as a check and balance against the institution that has the most power in this state, the LDS church. I'll be interested in following the 501c3 transformation to see if it is a viable model for local newspapers, which definitely provide an essential public good. Personally I think it would be helpful to create a new kind of non-profit arm that can have the full freedoms of the press without the financial burdens of a business. I'm not sure 501c3 status is flexible enough for that.

The Tribune has long railed about politicians accepting donations and thereby being controlled by special interests. It's ironic that now they're seeking to accept donations and become controlled by special interests.

I wish Huntsman success. Had he not stepped in, the Trib would have been gone. It’ll still be a shell of its former self, but better read than dead. That seems to be the sought-after fate of local newspapers everywhere.

The Truth is that the Mormon Church would love it if the Tribune died, leaving them with the only text publication in the state. And so would the state's Republican Party, which is far more dominant in Utah than this article suggests. Huntsman is doing the best he can, but he is a Republican and that makes him and the Tribune odd bed fellows.

Paul, like his justifiably venerated father, is clearly someone who is extraordinarily generous and civic minded. To have expended as much personal capital as he has on an institution which has, historically and currently, so often acted antagonistically to the church and political party he belongs to and to which he as also shown long personal commitment and devotion, speaks volumes about his values and integrity. I don't know how successful he will be in molding the Trib into this new non-profit model. But, considering what a money hole the Trib has been during and before his acquisition, the operational economics as an entity that is, explicitly rather than merely economically, NON-profit, can hardly be any more monetarily costly to him.

In days gone by the Tribune was a voice that kept the theocrats and their master accountable. Shady dealings by politicians were reported, undue influence by the repressive master of Utah politics was revealed. And many times change was seen. Today, with the antics of the GOP at the national level and the influence of religion dogma into our political system any reporting by the Tribune may become more ineffective. I was a many year subscriber to the publication, but, when the publication was subsequently sold to out of state interests one could see the quality of reporting suffer. Sadly, I could no longer pay for that type of reporting. I wish Mr. Huntsman the best. His late father was a tempering voice against the theocracy and will be missed.

The paradox between a free press and a regulated tax free non-profit is contradictory could only be contemplated in the United States in a place as strange as the theocracy of Utah. It doesn't fit the First Amendment.

I doubt that the financial losses of the paper were truly devastating to him in a truly financial way. This man is certainly a multi-millionaire and his family are billionaires. He will certainly inherit a bundle when the administration of his father's estate is concluded. It's a good idea to go non-profit in order to keep journalism alive in the state but the stranglehold the LDS has on the state, the state government, and the representatives to Congress will always limit growth in Utah. Diversification in the state but ethnically, religiously and in every way (cultivating women as leaders) will help the paper and the state. No one likes a theocracy.