A new paper by Leonard Downie Jr., a former Washington Post editor, and Michael Schudson, a Columbia University journalism professor, argues that foundations, universities, and government should step in to support a new model of American journalism, the Associated Press reports.

The study, commissioned by Columbia’s journalism school, calls on philanthropies to support local reporting operations and on government to ensure the tax code allows news organizations to operate as nonprofit organizations. Mr. Downie and Mr. Schudson also made their case in a Washington Post commentary.

A separate study by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy concluded that no Congressional legislation or changes in Internal Revenue Service policy are necessary for newspapers to quality for tax-exempt status, reports Editor & Publisher.

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