“Philanthropy has always been a factor in journalism in the US,” says professor Jeffrey Dvorkin of Ryerson University, “the question for Canadians is whether there are enough people who are willing to contribute in this economic climate.”

Newspapers are reeling to cover the costs of running their presses as their main sources of revenue, advertisements and classifieds, make a mass exodus from print to online media, where the cost of purchasing space is a fraction of its print counterpart.

And so the search for a way of paying for journalism continues. Philanthropy is a viable option when coupled with public funding, says Dvorkin.

The system “would need a very aggressive development department that is as imbued with the best values of the enterprise as the journalists themselves,” says Dvorkin.

There is a final balance that need must be met for a publicly and philanthropically funded organization, one that keeps the government at arm’s length and the interests of the benefactor out of the news room.

Dvorkin offers the possibilities of a “public ombudsman to act as a guarantor of that journalistic independence and integrity,” for the institution or an ethics guide by which the public may judge it,” Dvorkin says.