Batting For A New Team

If things look bad for nonprofits right now, they're looking a helluva lot funkier for newspapers. 501c3s will bounce back when the economy recovers, as will construction and real estate and dinners out.

But what kind of bounce-back will the New York Times get when unemployment falls back to 6 percent?

The answer is none. Newspapers have been losing money for years as ad dollars have shifted over to the internet. It's gotten so bad that the New York Times has considered selling its share of the Red Sox. Now that's desperate.

So it's no surprise that journalists are looking at switching teams as a way to make their demise a little less imminent.

A group of former Seattle Post-Intelligencer journalists today launched InvestigateWest, a nonprofit organization they hope will deliver in-depth stories to the region and find a way to save what is becoming an endangered craft.

These west-coast writers will be teaming up with a still-forming national nonprofit called the Investigative News Network. Together, they're betting that their work breaking stories is as fundable as campaigns to save whales.

Journalists aren't nearly as cute, but they're also risking extinction. Here's hoping their betting pays off.