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Posted on 12/02/2009 9:58:56 AM PST by Nachum
WASHINGTON –The head of the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday the agency will study whether government should aid struggling news organizations, which are suffering from a collapse in advertising revenues as the internet upends their centuries-old business model.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz's comments came during day one of a two-day "workshop" sponsored by the agency that became a forum for arguments among the heads of a diverse array of news organizations over the future of journalism.
Mr. Leibowitz said his agency will examine whether government should change the way the industry is regulated, from making news-gathering companies exempt from antitrust laws to granting them special tax treatment to making changes to copyright laws.
The Federal Communications Commission is already reconsidering rules that prevent a company from owning newspapers and TV stations in a single market.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The list, ping
At least this would be a more honest approach to funding the Propaganda Department.
Government will fund ‘which’ news organizations?
Conflict of interest?
I’m a Hillsdale alum. I understand that government money brings government control. (That’s why my alma mater doesn’t accept any.)
That is most likely the goal here — to control the media through funding.
I’m a Hillsdale alum. I understand that government money brings government control. (That’s why my alma mater doesn’t accept any.)
That is most likely the goal here — to control the media through funding.
Very, very, very dangerous. Beware the government-media complex.
Why not? The media is already state controlled.
/sar
Fascism marches on.
Obama, the dope of a brighter future...
Or rather the fact that news consumers are voting with their feet because they are sick to death of being force-fed the socialist agenda while being denied an American based news product.
...his agency will examine whether government should change the way the industry is regulated, from making news-gathering companies exempt from antitrust laws to granting them special tax treatment to making changes to copyright laws
How about granting them a license allowing them to call themselves a "news gathering company" contingent on citizen watchdog research groups grading them on biased reporting, as well as omitting certain coverage (bias by omission)
The Federal Communications Commission is already reconsidering rules that prevent a company from owning newspapers and TV stations in a single market
Maybe they should worry more about whether or not the government can own or control the media.
How about a tax cut?
How about a tax cut?
No Sh+t!!!
Why does the Gov’t always want to invest in losing businesses, why not invest in winning ones? Try encouraging energy production, nuclear plants, develop gas fields, who in their right mind would invest in the NYT? Maybe try investing in their citizens by cutting taxes and balancing the budget? They may be surprised by the result.
Liberals fiercely defend Darwinism and natural selection/survival of the fittest, except when it comes to Democrat-friendly businesses.
I don’t want one freakin’ penny of my tax money bailing out any newspaper. If they can’t succeed on their own, they need to go the way of the buggy manufacturers.
I can’t believe our government is wasting the time and money even considering this. What has become of this country?
He that pays the piper gets to call the tune.
This was exactly what I expected. With the precipitous decline in fortunes of the government-sucking media, I had been looking forward to the truth finally having access to the minds of the public on an equal footing. Then when the industry bailouts started, I thought “If they’ll bail out the auto and finance sectors, you just know they’ll bail out their own propaganda arm.” Damn. Communism rescued by more communism.
A minor problem is papers would become MORE boring - not only would only one side be presented, but it would be poorly written.
To solve the "no body reads it" problem, the FTC could look into forcing people to read the paper and giving short random "quizzes" to citizens. Orwell would not be surprised.
The only change I want to see in copyright is that copyright be reduced to the 28 years Jefferson supported.
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