Stacy,

Great paper on an important topic. Do develop the idea of L3C? and introduce us to what it is. What are the respective roles of the federal and state governments in promoting L3C? newspapers? For instance, would states need to modify their corporate or nonprofit entity laws, and would the IRS/Treasury need to interpret tax law differently? It seems tax law will play a key role, but then that might raise a First Amendment issue from government entanglement in the press.

The two concerns of investigative journalism and localism are there - I don't see how having citizens can reproduce what is essentially a profession. I see the similarities between journalism and law - traditional models of delivering services are displaced by the new digital world. But certain constraints, namely professional norms and local practice, enable both to survive in some way. Perhaps explore whether these needs will ever be met by ordinary citizens in the digital age. Or must a whole scale transformation of journalism happen to realize that?

-- ThomasHou - 12 Dec 2011