Wednesday, March 25, 2009

RE: The Newspaper Bailout   [Mark Hemingway]

That story Kathyrn linked about Senator Cardin's journalism bailout bill is kind of terrifying. The plan is to let newspapers reinvent themselves as nonprofits with a "variety of tax breaks," and further:

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.

Forbidding papers to make political endorsements? I don't know how "political endorsements" is defined in the legislation, but I imagine the moment a paper angers Congress by criticizing a particular politician, party, or key piece of legislation there will be attempts to define that rather broadly. Think newspaper editors being hauled before Congressional committees and asked to explain themselves. Additionally, a press that depends on a special designation from the government for its economic livelihood isn't really a "free" press any more, now is it?

This is a very, very bad idea all-around and I'm kind of astonished it's even being considered.

03/25 09:15 AMShare