Newspaper Bailout: A Free Press Sells Itself
I guess we knew it had to come to this. The reasons behind government crossing the line separating the free market from a subsidized economy are eloquent and self-serving. We are dismissing every tenet we’ve been taught protects the integrity of capitalism, and we’re doing so with the serpentine logic that subsidizing failure will ensure success. We are buying the rope we’ll hang ourselves with.
So it’s with no humor that we watch as the media that mocked journalistic ethics this election season turn to the government it work to seat to save it. It’s a quid pro quo that would send stock traders to jail. While rumors abound about a bail out for major newspapers like the Times, in Connecticut a state legislator is looking to save two state newspapers that are on the verge of collapse.
It’s not media that important, Frank. It’s a free press that is. But he has his supporters:
It’s truly dizzying logic. It’s like arguing that if we let organized crime subsidize law enforcement, we’ll have more police on the street. But who can trust them? We thought the profit motive might keep the media honest to some extent, but they’ve proven to be motivated more by ideology than professionalism, and the business be damned. But the golden goose has been gutted of credibility, and no one is buying anymore. It says a lot that the creativity they might have used to make themselves worth paying for, they use instead to find another way into our wallets.
No democracy can survive without an independent and curious media. Because we’ve lacked one for a long time, our nation is in real danger. We find ourselves today with a president elect who has no business being this close to the most powerful position on earth, with a government undermining our economic system and endangering our freedoms, and a judicial system that in many ways prioritizes the rights of the aggressors over their victims. It’s no wonder so many Americans have lost faith.
What will it cost us to regain that faith?
More: Michelle Malkin: Fishwrap has its privileges…
More: Fausta’s Blog: No more bailouts.
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4 Responses to “Newspaper Bailout: A Free Press Sells Itself”
January 1st, 2009 at 9:05 am
It makes me physically sick to think that newspapers, right or left, would get a dime of taxpayer money. “Preserving free press” through a bailout? Our free press has been bought and paid for by the Left. Yes, it is dizzying logic!
Happy, happy New Year to your and yours:-)
Maggie Thornton´s last blog post..The Angst of Supporting Israel
January 1st, 2009 at 9:25 am
Thanks for your thoughts, Maggie. It’s obvious that many of these newspapers should actually use the opportunity of bankruptcy or complete collapse to renew themselves – to be reborn under new names, with a chance to re-introduce themselves to a skeptical audience. Like a drifter who saunters into town with a new name and a new face, there’s a chance to start a new life utilizing all the lessons you learned from the old one!
And, frankly, that’s the whole point of letting failing businesses fail. Failure is an integral part of a free market system. There isn’t a better time than now, with mainstream media being so maligned, for them to let go of the old reputation and vie for a new one…
January 1st, 2009 at 11:26 am
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January 1st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
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