While much of the reaction to F. Warren Hellman’s proposal to start a nonprofit to cover local news has been positive, Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express says it could hurt traditional news organizations.

“It’s true that the Bay Area likely will experience an increase in local news coverage right away, but if the new venture forces traditional news organizations to further contract, then the public will be forced to increasingly depend on inexperienced, unpaid students to inform them about what’s happening in the region.

The nonprofit will use UC Berkeley journalism students who will work for free. Gammon said the idea of a nonprofit news organization has merit, but using what amounts to slave labor to make it happen is bad for journalism.”