A Government Bailout for the Media?
By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers
First Wall Street. Then Detroit. Now the media? That's the talk among some in the news biz who want a government bailout. "I would argue it is the only answer," says John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for the Nation, a liberal magazine. His argument: The Founding Fathers wanted the public to be informed. "So what did they do? They created a media system" with subsidized papers. Nichols argues that, with the right policies, the modern government can give the media a boost through tax cuts, postal subsidies, and other initiatives—like funding high school newspapers—to make sure communities are getting coverage. R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., founder and editor-in-chief of the righty American Spectator, thinks that's nuts. If Uncle Sam pays, then the feds could police journalism and that might hurt partisan publications like his or the Nation, he says. "There are a lot of people who would consider the American Spectator not journalism, so we wouldn't get the subsidy," Tyrrell says.
Check out our Whispers political caricatures.
View recent political cartoons.
Follow Paul and Nikki on Twitter.
Read more Washington Whispers.
Tags: journalism
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (4) | Print
Reader Comments
Two war scenario becomes obsolete.
Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat their mistakes and those who want peace must prepare for war. These two quotes say it all about politicians and military men who want to scale back military spending in these increasingly dangerous times for America. Very foolish!
Decent fatal descent
I do not reckon that older men will log onto the internet to see if they made the "obit" page. Logging on to the internet to check the obituary pages indeed seems peculiarly morbid. So,there is one morbid argument for keeping the print media, in this case local newspapers, functioning. This morbid argument hints that local newspapers, for instance, should be supported at the local level, such as by the municipal or county governments, or perhaps the local Lions or Elks clubs.
I noticed PBS is mentioned in the second posting. I recall that just before the Oklahoma City bombing that PBS was ranting almost incessantly about the anniversary of the Dresden bombings...school children et al. PBS actually had Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse" movie scheduled. So this indicates some independence from government censorship can be obtained despite government support. Well, this argument is just too morbid.
Personally I have some keepsake print media such as: a NEWSWEEK magazine with the USS Pueblo crew on the cover, a San Jose Mercury News paper headlining the October '87 stock market crash, and a front page of one newspaper headlining V-E day with the missingness of the USS Indiana as a small inset article on the frontpage. So, these items could be tradeable or sellable whereas a 10MB Adobe file would be so much flotsam on the seas not unlike the Pueblo or Indiana.
Again on a personal level, I worked at Henry J.'s Permanente Cement plant when Hanson PLC owned it. Subsequently I worked at the Davenport, Ca, cement plant when RMC PLC owned it. Both plants are heavily dependent on government sales such as for airport runways and interstate highways. One can view this debacle as government subsidies or government sales. As well, the current infrastructure bailout/stimulus package is nothing more than "business as usual" for various cement plants and Granite Construction and the US Government with the caveat now the politicians are using "business as usual" to buy votes. To the private sector's credit I made some big bucks when "we" poured ADOBE's downtown San Jose twin towers, however, even bigger bucks from the Mineta/San Jose Int'l Airport runway pours and California's Highway 85 completion.
Has anyone checked on the US Government "subsidy" to the battery industry? $4-5 billions/yr perhaps!
Well this morbid post for governments subsidizing locally printed obituary pages/print media is turning into a morbid rant. However, Henry J.'s health foundation is sufficient proof that over the long term wise/honest men and women can turn government subsidies and sales into long term public benefits.
I recall Mortimer B. Zuckerman stating on Larry Kudlow's cabletv show that HOPE makes a good breakfast but a lousy supper. We should hope then that our strong belief in our business leaders and our commitment and loyalty to one another and the nations goals will be the sustaining factors in these crises.
The Fatal Decent Continues
What a JOKE to even suggest that the media actually informs anyone about anything.
They MUST go bankrupt for NOT PRODUCING PRODUCTS THE PEOPLE WANT OR TRUST.
Fox and the Wall Street Journal continue to INCREASE readership at the expense of the "competition". More proof that the LOSERS deserve their station in life.
advertisement
