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March 25, 2009

Politicians: Why Not Bail Out Newspapers?

Hey, they've always been there to bail out certain politicians

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin.

It seems to me the reason they are "struggling" is because they have already in fact become "non-profits." We have an old joke in my office: "we're a non-profit corporation; we didn't intend to be..."

If you are losing money because people aren't buying your product, well, either you change or go under; don't expect to be transformed into some quasi-governmental agency. This is crap.

A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.

Ooh, there's a shocker. Expect lots of investigative stories about government corruption now.

Not.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at March 25, 2009 07:21 AM

Comments

Jeez, why doesn't Congress just buy the papers, and rename them "Pravda"?

Cardin is an idiot.

Posted by: JeffS at March 25, 2009 09:11 AM

JeffS, they'll probably just lump them in with PBS. They'll have radio, TV and now newspapers under their brand. Is the internet next?

Posted by: Retread at March 25, 2009 09:38 AM

The were already house organs of their own volition. But if the government actually owns the papers outright (as compared to individual politicians owning them), the First Amendment is probably not long for this world.

Posted by: nightfly at March 25, 2009 10:51 AM

Good point, Retread. I forgot about the People's Broadcast System. Largely because I stopped watching them long ago.

nightfly, that's why Cardin is an idiot. Or another Dhimmicrat using the Constitution for toilet paper.

Posted by: JeffS at March 25, 2009 11:12 AM