What we need now is a bailout for newspapers. Not a blank check to soften the cushion for the likes of Sam Zell. No, let’s do it just like we’re doing it for the auto industry, and for the same reason. We must help newspaper journalism survive because it is vital to the Republic. But, only those newspaper companies that can develop a workable plan to quickly transport themselves into the digital age should be eligible for this bailout. And, the money should strictly go toward helping newspapers to stop killing trees and start being Internet only.
Newspapers – or at least newspaper reporters and editors – are critical to our society and democracy. If newspapers collapse and close down, we will lose a public service that’s more valuable than many branches of government. There will be almost nobody to keep government and industry honest without newspaper reporters. The pronouncements of special interests will go unchallenged. People will not know what to believe.
... Were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 16, 1787
Read More