As many Freepers pointed out, since newspapers are losing money, they are not paying corporate income taxes anyway. I guess the benefit to them of being “nonprofit” would be that “philanthropists” would get tax deductions for “donations” to the newspapers. I use quotes because buying a newspaper would be an inexpensive way to gain influence over politicians. I bet this explains why Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has invested in the New York Times.
There’s real estate taxes to consider also.
Now that is a great observation. While it seemed plausible that Slim threw money down a rat hole for some "entry fee" into the political/economic big time here above the border, your hunch makes so much more sense.