The government is backing the idea of granting charitable status to some forms of journalism and has asked the Charity Commission to look into how it could be achieved.
This information is contained in the Cairncross Review: A Sustainable Future for Journalism, which says that local news faces oblivion if it does not receive additional funding. Tax reliefs from charity status would enable better funding.
One potential problem is the need for charities to remain politically neutral which is a bar to many organisations becoming registered charities.