• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, November 13, 2009

A Tuesday New York Times Science section story about a huge floating garbage patch in the Pacific was written by a freelance journalist. Not in itself unusual, since the Times taps lots of freelancers. But in this case, the reporter's expenses were paid by hundreds of donors in an experiment in "crowd-funded" journalism. Spot.Us, which describes itself as a "nonprofit project to pioneer 'community funded' reporting" (part of San Francisco-based non-profit Center for Media Change) lists among its donors Web luminaries such as Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist; Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

One might dispassionately admire the nobility of those who seek to salvage traditional who, what, when, where and how journalism in an era of repurposed press releases and social media-powered opinion. But it raises the question of whether we should start non-profits for lots of other disappearing species. How do you weigh the societal value of a solid piece of investigative reporting against, say, retraining auto salesmen, addled former NFL players -- or more urgently, it seems, magazine publishers?

Let me state for the record that I like journalists. I used to be one before coming to the dark side. Every time there is another round of layoffs, I often drop e mails to reporters I like to make sure they weren't taken out by the latest pink slips. But like NFL players, they have chosen to be part of a perilous profession. Darwinian evolutionary biology dictates that they learn XML and Java or die.

Let's think more broadly about 501(c)(3)'s, where the need is just as urgent.

Investment Bankers: historically, if you couldn't cut it on Wall Street, you became a car salesman or a journalist (especially if you couldn't get into law school), but now they wander the earth (well, Greenwich and Bedminster) waiting for someone to invent something derivatal to sell. Surely the public would contribute to a foundation to keep them at the country club taking golf lessons so they don't occupy all the bus stop benches while checking their BlackBerries for resume responses?

Magazine Sales Reps: There was a time when "I don't want to carry a rate card anymore" was code for: "They didn't make me publisher, so I'm gonna try this Internet thing." These days, there are hundreds who would beg for one more chance to sell something "far forward, right-hand page, facing edit." I can see a non profit that supports safe driving for teens at night, but also picks up at midtown watering holes between 4 and 6, or until the last "they didn't know what they had" is declared before pitching face first into the corn nuts.

Media Buyers: As technology renders the little human thought that went into media buying in the first place irrelevant, I should think the public would contribute to a fund that gives out-of-work media grunts a VIP pass that gets them into the cocktail parties and pre Broadway dinners they fed off back when they counted. An annual spa trip, a logoed shoulder bag or tickets to the NCAA regionals would also help perpetuate the line.

Internet Pioneers: While the Internet has held up better than other media throughout the downturn (now an upturn, we are told), there is nevertheless a generation of early-stage Internauts who never had sufficient equity to retire and invest in something with a more promising future like a Cold Stone Creamery franchise or synthetic body parts. Even they know the lingo and say inane things like "Yeah, Wenda and I go way back," they cannot get "traction" as social media and mobile replace Web visits. Unless you want these guys sending you Linked In appeals or "just doing a little networking" e mails, it is in your best interest to help underwrite a charity that runs a 24-hour loft where they can play table hockey and spin yarns about the good old days at Prodigy, Pathfinder and Softbank.