The billionaire owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the third-oldest surviving newspaper in the US, has donated the newspaper to a nonprofit in an attempt to allow it “to continue long-term in the new digital age”.
HF “Gerry” Lenfest, a former cable television magnate and a noted philanthropist, on Tuesday announced he was ceding control of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com to the Institute for Journalism in New Media, a foundation he created.
Lensfest, 85, who bought the papers for $88m less than two years ago, told staff and readers: “Of all the things I’ve done, this is the most important because of the journalism.
“Money is a responsibility when you have that kind of wealth. I’ve tried to do right by it. Perhaps the greatest opportunity came with the ownership of these newspapers,” he told staff and others on Tuesday. “What would this city be without the Inquirer and Daily News?”
The Inquirer, which began life in 1829 as the Pennsylvania Inquirer, has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism, and the Daily News has won three.
Today's Inquirer, 01/12/16 #inqfrontpage pic.twitter.com/cSwzTJW3Yr
— Philly Inquirer (@PhillyInquirer) January 12, 2016
In addition to handing over control of the newspapers’ holding company, the Philadelphia Media Network, Lenfest is also providing a $20m endowment to help prolong the life of the newspapers, which, like many news outlets across the world, are struggling to make money and hold on to readers. The company, which has been making cutbacks for the past decade, laid off a further 46 journalists in November.
The Inquirer’s move to trust ownership follows Florida’s Tampa Bay Times, which is owned by the Poynter Institute and the Day. The Inquirer’s trust setup, which will be part of the Philadelphia Foundation, will allow readers, companies and others to give money to be used for specifically for investigative journalism or other specific projects.
