Democrat Congress proposes government bailout to help their media arm.

[dude1394]

Can't have their media arm go under now.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday. "The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.

"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs," he told a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, said the "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."

"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.

"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure," he said.
Without endorsing any proposals, Waxman noted various proposed remedies, including new tax structures for publishers, providing non-profit status, changing anti-trust regulations or eliminating a law that bars owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.

Acknowledging that talk of government support for the press raises "red flags," Waxman stressed it is not the job of Congress to "deny the evolution of media."

But "as we look at these various solutions, government's going to have to be involved in one way or the other," he warned.

"Eventually, government is going to have to be responsible to help resolve these issues and our whole society depends very much on reaching some resolution of the problem."

US newspapers are grappling with declining print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the migration of readers to free news online, while several major US publishers have declared bankruptcy.

[Underdog]

I think the "horse & buggy" manufacturers are long overdue for a bailout as well...

(it's not their fault that a superior technology like the automobile wiped them out!)

[Usually Lurkin]

If the newspaper industry were allowed to die, we'd lose an uninformed public.

[Usually Lurkin]

arrgh. This bugs me enough for 2 posts.

If the newspaper industry were informing the public, it wouldn't be failing!

[Flacolaco]

Pornography could teach the newspaper business a thing or two about how to make money on the internet.

[mcsluggo]

Waxman is a tool. That said, I don't see where this calls for a bailout, per se. He states that the news media is vital for a well functioning democracy (hard to argue there) and then it seems like he basically calls for some tax breaks for the industry. That is a far cry from a "bailout"... right?

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

arrgh. This bugs me enough for 2 posts.

If the newspaper industry were informing the public, it wouldn't be failing!

this, on the other hand, is utter bs!

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

this, on the other hand, is utter bs!

well, nanny nanny booboo to you, too, mr insight.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

Waxman is a tool. That said, I don't see where this calls for a bailout, per se. He states that the news media is vital for a well functioning democracy (hard to argue there) and then it seems like he basically calls for some tax breaks for the industry. That is a far cry from a "bailout"... right?!

because the standard "bailout" is now a complete government takeover of a company or industry?

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

Waxman is a tool. That said, I don't see where this calls for a bailout, per se. He states that the news media is vital for a well functioning democracy (hard to argue there) and then it seems like he basically calls for some tax breaks for the industry. That is a far cry from a "bailout"... right?




this, on the other hand, is utter bs!

Hmmmm...utter bs after the absolute white-washes and non-stories on Acorn, Van Jones and now Climategate. Exactly how many stories do they have to bury before it become JUST bs and not utter bs?

[dude1394]

How can even a democrat support bailing out a business this incompetent (or biased).
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...not_cover.html

The mainstream media has all but shut down coverage of Ft. Hood, and the White House has delayed a congressional investigation. The media has also provided little news on the Lakewood murders.
Where’s the media? Oh, they’re saturating the air waves with stories about a couple from the Virginia hunt country, and their adventures at the White House; and don’t forget Tiger Woods and his “transgressions”.
On November 5, 2009, when Dr. Nidal Hasan, a Muslim psychiatrist for the Army, took out his guns and began killing soldiers in Ft. Hood, Texas, he was declaring war; his own mentally imbalanced induced war, or a deliberate war in the name of Islam. The White House and its mainstream press played political correctness games, and avoided calling the terrorist act for what it was. President Obama’s non-reaction to the Texas killings showed a lack of appropriate response to a national tragedy by a president. On the contrary, former President Bush visited the families of the victims shortly after the incident, but very few media outlets covered it. Bush did the right thing, but what is right is not being reported.
FoxNews.com reported that Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said in a written statement:
How can it be that the House Committee on Homeland Security has launched an investigation and called hearings within a week to look into the couple who crashed a recent White House state dinner, yet a month after Fort Hood there has yet to be a single congressional hearing into the Fort Hood attack.

Foxnews.com went on:
But lawmakers have delayed a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29 at Fort Hood last month. The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its briefing last month at the behest of the White House despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a probe.
On November 29, 2009 in Lakewood, Washington, a career criminal shot and killed four police officers who were having a cup of coffee. Media coverage of these senseless killings has been scanty. Michelle Malkin profiles the murders in her blog:
My column today steps back and looks at the past year of violence against police officers and the cultural war that has been waged against them for the past several decades. The Left has a popular mantra: “Stop the hate.” Why don’t they start applying it to the men and women who protect and serve?
Suppression of the news is the rule in communist countries, but why here, why now? The pattern is emerging. Investigative journalism is now too dangerous to the cause. Leftists are now in control of the White House and the media. They must keep a tight lid on the news that might awaken people’s anger.

[dude1394]

Damn those pesky facts...and conversely differing opinions.. This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic for NPR.

Mara Liasson is National Public Radio's top political correspondent. She also helps hold down the left flank on panels where she appears as a FOX News contributor such as Special Report with Bret Baier. Josh Gerstein reports that NPR management has asked Liasson to reconsider her appearances on Fox News because of what they perceive -- in accord with the teaching of the Obama administration -- as the network's political bias:

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR's executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network's supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox's programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At the end of the 30 days, Liasson was undoubtedly expected to engage in rigorous self-criticism, but so far it hasn't worked out that way: "At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she'd seen no significant change in Fox's programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said."
Somehow I think this is not the end of the story.
Via Lucianne.

[92bDad]

So the newsPAPER business in on its last breath ...

And through the internet we are being educated on the process, which includes a potential GOVERNMENT bail out...

Somehow, the Democrats believe we are UNDER informed if we lose the News PAPER business...

No doubt, this has a long standing tradition...however, this is all about Change.

It appears that with some influence through capatilism, that we have engaged in new technology and ultimately we have grown the News COMMUNICATION business and now the old school way is set to be sent to the Smithsonian.

For once I agree with UD...perhaps it's time we bail out the ole Horse and Buggy...