Obama yesterday expressed concern at the sorry state of the news industry and said that he will look at a news paper bailout, because otherwise, blogs will take over the world...
Obama yesterday expressed concern at the sorry state of the news industry and said that he will look at a news paper bailout, because otherwise, blogs will take over the world... businessinsider.com
10 Comments
State-owned media, hmmm, I think I have heard of this before....
Rather than bail out the newspapers, maybe that money needs to be spent on education so people are better able to decide whether their information is coming from a reputable, unbiased, informed source, or not?
Scandalous! He "would be happy to look at" bills that would propose something like this! You know who else liked to look at things?! HITLER!!!!
It's so interesting to watch people fly off the handle regarding statements from someone who's so careful to address things in the most level-headed, reasonable, open-minded way possible.
Enough handouts, I mean bailouts already!
Typically economic recessions help to reduce redundancy in the marketplace (circuit city for example) and also eliminate dated business models that have long passed their end. It's actually one of the few benefits of a recession because it stimulates innovation in the marketplace and provides entry points for new business.
It seems like this time around we are not allowing this happen. Instead the government continues to throw money at business and industries that maybe should have just closed shop and moved on. Yes it's sad to think that this could be the end for the printed page, especially now that we have devices like Kindle, but the advancement of technology generally means leaving something behind.
It's also amusing to me that this all suggests newspapers as "fact checking" and "unbiased media". Since when was the news unbiased?
Ugh, the media ARE blogs. The reason nobody feels like paying for newspapers or tv news is not because of "the scary new media", its because newspapers and broadcast journalism have turned into talk-show hosts and bloggers, which are currently free.
I pay for the NYT, and its slowly turned into an awful lot of navel gazing - sometimes I think I keep buying it out of habit. As far as I can tell other than Jon Stewart (I know its a fake news show, and other news sources should be ashamed that the Daily Show consistently eats their lunch) and maybe Rachel Maddow, nobody else does their homework. Oh, maybe McClatchy will get lucky once in a while, but when you have to keep the profits over 20%, that's hard to do when you have to hire people that can read AND comprehend something (other than the teleprompter in front of them).
If you want good journalism, start by practicing it once in a while big media. Your profit margins might go down to 5-7%, but you won't have killed the goose as it were. Until you change your ways I will consider you all (left & right, but the right is much more unhinged) nothing but talking heads who usually know less about the world around us than me, and that's an awfully low bar.
Nice post, crowbert.
To say nothing of where I stand on the newspaper vs. blog, mass media vs. independent media, etc., some of these comments indicate that people didn't even read the article:
The link mentions "bailout" once, and the article it references and is linked to mentions it nowhere. All that is said is that Obama has indicate a willingness to review bills that propose allowing newspapers to become non-profit corporations.
There are huge problems with the mass media for sure, and it is not necessarily wise to be looking for ways to prop up outdated media (if it is indeed outdated), but the reaction to the blog entry that this post linked to are pretty telling.
Maybe they could bailout the design and construction industry while they're at it! And then bailout graduate students. And then bailout anyone living in Michigan. If the government is giving away money I want my piece of the pie!
Of course He wants to bail out the big newspapers. Every morning He is awoken privately by the gentle felatio of the NYT.
I'd certainly prefer trained professionals watching over the shenanigans of Nixon, Clinton, Bush(es), and Obama than some semi-pro bloggers. As mentioned, he's not bailing them out, but offering to consider re-structuring them as non-profits, because that's exactly what they've become.
I'd feel much better about our freedom with a healthy fourth arm!
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