Journalism Needs Government Help

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Wall Street Journal:

We have entered a momentous period in the history of the American press. The invention of new communications technologies—especially the Internet—is transforming the human capacity to speak, perhaps as monumentally as the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. This is facilitating the largest and fastest expansion of global economic growth in human history. Free speech and a free press are essential to a dynamic economy.

At the same time, however, the financial viability of the U.S. press has been shaken to its core. The proliferation of communications outlets has fractured the base of advertising and readers. Newsrooms have shrunk dramatically and foreign bureaus have been decimated. My best estimate is that there are presently only a few dozen full-time foreign correspondents from the U.S. covering all of China, despite the critical importance of that nation to our future.

Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are undertaking studies of ways to ensure the steep economic decline faced by newspapers and broadcast news does not deprive Americans of the essential information they need as citizens. One idea under consideration is enhanced public funding for journalism.

The idea of public funding for the press stirs deep unease in American culture. To many it seems inconsistent with our strong commitment, embodied in the First Amendment, to having a free press capable of speaking truth to power and to all of us. This press is a kind of public trust, a fourth branch of government. Can it be trusted when the state helps pay for it?
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Er, no. And isn't that the point?

[SrWoodchuck]

WVR! Totally agree, Great post.

 

Absolutely no bailout for newspapers already 'pwned' by the Obamunist government & their ultra rich supporters.

 

[ BTW- I don't know exactly what 'pwned' means, but I've seen it in context & it seems to apply here ]

[clearvision]

Setting aside that the bulk of the current media needs to go under, the idea that the government should help pay for journalists/news would cause the same issues we are having with science in this country. Every is out for the government grant and you get biased results based on what your funding master desires.