What started last year as something of a joke from the “tongue & check” department at Business Week, and a supposedly outlandish column by Michelle Malkin, has now become a reality: the state of Connecticut is seriously considering a rescue package for The Bristol Press. Can the nation’s premier junk-bond newspaper, The New York Times, or The Chicago Tribune–already in bankruptcy court–be far behind? FULL ARTICLE
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/9234/should-the-government-bail-out-newspapers/
Should the Government Bail Out Newspapers?
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“Without freedom of the press, along with the panoply of other civil liberties, democratic government loses its legitimacy.”
So, in other words, government should “bail-out” the papers in order to debunk itself, thus disillusioning its supporters, and restoring the idea of liberty as the only healthy form of social organization, right?
I can think of no better way to put the last nail in the coffin of the mainstream media than to grant them such bailouts. They will all become organs of the state and thus be more rapidly discredited.
Heuristic, a good test of this is to see the ratings of NBC networks, CNBC in particular. Since the NBC networks are owned by GE (who was on the No Short list last fall), they are already, in effect, organs of the state.
I don’t have much faith in the average person making a connection between bailouts and integrity. If they can do that, then they should already know how much “credit” the mainstream media has currently. Most people still belive what CNN tells them, and I don’t think anything will ever change that.
I agree that a bailout for newspapers would essentially be nationalizing the press, and also believe that a bailout would inhibit the natural flow of the free market. Obviously if papers aren’t selling, then one can assume that there is decreased demand. technology is changing the way everything is done and unfortunately printed newspapers are losing their appeal. what if the government bailed out every fading product that was out there due to advances in technology? It would only result in stagnant technological growth and wasteful and meaningless spending. If papers are bailed out then we might as well bail out the compact disc industry and every other market that isn’t evolving with the times.
I agree that a bailout for newspapers would essentially be nationalizing the press, and also believe that a bailout would inhibit the natural flow of the free market. Obviously if papers aren’t selling, then one can assume that there is decreased demand. technology is changing the way everything is done and unfortunately printed newspapers are losing their appeal. what if the government bailed out every fading product that was out there due to advances in technology? It would only result in stagnant technological growth and wasteful and meaningless spending. If papers are bailed out then we might as well bail out the compact disc industry and every other market that isn’t evolving with the times.
“The equivalent retort would be to describe the advocates of carbon-regulation as “alarmists;” yet, it is antithetical to freedom of thought to describe either side in such pejorative terms.”
No, it isn’t.
Well if you deliver them such “brilliant” ideas. You should not be suprised they realize them. I wrote about such extra failout-plans…..
Currently it’s not even tragedy it’s slapstick…. bad slapstick…
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