Bob Sweeney, in the column you linked, is nowhere near right on "If the government can support public radio, why not newspapers." Anybody who knows anything about PBS and NPR know that less than 10 percent of their revenue comes from the government, and zip (AFAIK) in the case of nonprofit newspapers. He is right to a degree about problems that can arise with foundations; Dick Tofel has covered various angles on this.
Bob Sweeney, in the column you linked, is nowhere near right on "If the government can support public radio, why not newspapers." Anybody who knows anything about PBS and NPR know that less than 10 percent of their revenue comes from the government, and zip (AFAIK) in the case of nonprofit newspapers. He is right to a degree about problems that can arise with foundations; Dick Tofel has covered various angles on this.