Montreal's La Presse to become non-profit entity

A bastion of Quebec journalism, La Presse, is undergoing a major change, severing ties withthe powerful Desmarais family and becoming a non-profit entity.

The announcement Tuesday is aimed at enabling the French-language publication to accept private donationsas well as government support.

Non-profits are a common model in the U.S., where wealthy foundations and donors help bankroll investigative and public interest journalism.

The Desmarais family has owned La Presse for more than 50 years as part of its conglomerate, Power Corp.

The familywill donate $50 million to the new entity.

"The newstructureis designed to be a modern approachadapted to the realities of today's written media," La Presse said in a statement.

"La Pressewill be able to pursue itsmission: producing high-quality, thorough and reliablenewsand promotingdiversity of opinion with respect for ideas and individuals."

Thechange instructure requires the repeal of aprovision of aPrivate Act adopted in1967 under Quebec law regarding the ownership ofLa Presse.

Support from Ottawa?

At the announcement,La Presse president Pierre-ElliottLevasseururged the federal government to financially support the written press through philanthropic models and direct assistance.

The Canadian government indicated it would do so in its last budget, tabled in February.

The Liberal government proposed $50 million over five years to support independent, non-governmental organizations that will spur on local journalism in underserved communities.

Levasseursaid that a non-profit model makes it easier for the Liberalsto justify using taxpayer dollars to bail out struggling media organizations.

"They understand the important contribution that written media plays in a healthy democracy, but they're not willing to help rich families or rich companies," Levasseursaid.

The budget also said the government will spend the next year exploring models that would allow private giving or philanthropic support for non-profit journalism and local news.

Foundedin 1884, the French-language newspaper was created by conservatives who were dissatisfied with then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald.

In December 2017, the newspaper stopped printing paper copies and went exclusively digital, featuringa website, mobile app and a daily tablet edition called La Presse+.

La Presse has one of the largestnewsrooms inCanada, with 585 employees.