Newspaper fans dismayed by the low quality of for-profit-only newspapers these days may find cause for hope in Chicago:

As Chicago’s struggling newspapers cut back on coverage, an ambitious news cooperative run by a former Tribune editor and heavily staffed by Trib refugees has emerged to pursue public service journalism. Its premier client: the New York Times.

Read more about this public interest journalism cooperative at the American Journalism Review [published by the University of Maryland Foundation with offices at the UMD journalism school].

This is an idea that should be pursued in other parts of the country (the Co-op covers only Chicago), because everywhere once-excellent newspapers have been swallowed up by conglomerates who go for fast and shallow in pursuit of a buck with little or no thought for the public interest.