United States Senator Benjamin Cardin today introduced legislation that would allow newspapers to become nonprofit organizations in what he described as "an effort to help the faltering [newspaper] industry survive."

This is the first in a series of posts calling attention to some of the topics covered in the recently launched Citizen Media Law Project Legal Guide. The first topic we'll take up is choosing a business form for online publishing activities. There is increasing awareness that, especially if you publish content in collaboration with others, it may not be smart to simply leave the relationship "natural" or informal.

The Center for Citizen Media is in the midst of a series of posts exploring possible business models for citizen journalism and the processes surrounding the creation of a website. The series is primarily the work of Ryan McGrady, a new media graduate student at Emerson College, who was an intern here at the CMLP this past summer.