Media Bailout Sparks Debate

Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro sees saving the local newspaper as his duty. But others think he and his colleagues are setting a worrisome precedent for government involvement in the U.S. press.

Nicastro represents Connecticut's 79th assembly district, which includes Bristol, a city of about 61,000 people outside Hartford, the state capital. Its paper, The Bristol Press, may fold within days, along with The Herald in nearby New Britain.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[nogimmicks]

No bailout for the bankers/the wallstreet speculators and the Media. These two groups were the source of the problem. Free internet is always a better source.

[rogerse]

Stop being a hypocrite.

No bailout for anyone.

[unite4change]

Rogerse, I disagree, bailout Main Street, the Americans people.

[swo68]

I agree. These bailouts are ridiculous. It's an ugly precedence.

[ILibertine]

Fact is, every enterprise not wishing a bailout thus far is merely a late comer to the ball. And I, as a retirement fund investor who has suffered some loss, have a bailout of my own to request - and I seriously think the gov't should be bailing out our 401K (& like) losses with every bit as much priority as any private business. So there's a good argument for each and every potential bailout. And perhaps some businesses on the edge of solvency really have lost their viability and this is the inevitable cleaning of house that must come, no matter the pain, just like big steel in the 80s, just like the Pony Express in the older 60s, just like big coal in the 2010s, just like oil in the 2030s and so forth. And I hope big pharmaceutical real soon. They will have to fall by the wayside if they cannot survive because taxpayers cannot save everyone and everything, and to think we can is merely to invite a worthless currency in the process. & so it goes.....

[MontereyDean]

Of all the industries on earth, this is the least deserving of a bailout. Moronic editors, writers who are little more than notetakers, and management that would fill every column inch with ads and leave out the news -- if they could sell that many ads. Absolutely not. Not a penny for any of them.

[research]

Stop wasting trees for conservative propaganda wastefully presented on dirty paper.

[Hoisin]

What journalists fail to see is that with ALL the other bailouts out there, the government now has its hands in your business.

[jukesgrrl]

No, Comrade, I don't fail to see it. I'm thoroughly enjoying the fact that President BushCheney and the Republicans did more to Sovietize this country than any other administration in American history. I trust they're proud of themselves.

[larry278]

It would be grossly sadistic to have the LA TIMES plant, etc blown up as was allegedly done by disgruntled union people in the early 20th century. But videos showing alternate ways the explosion(s) could have been done would have a possible historic value. There is the possibility that Sam Zell would get rid of a paper that isn't ever going to make money for him. That would free him from the expense of operating the LAT. He could use the money he saved to pay down his leveraged loans. He could sell the videos & any LAT real estate to get more money to pay his leveraged loans.
If most newspapers folded in 2009, it would improve the quality of the MSM.
Perhaps the USA will be almost free of daily newspapers by 2015. That would not be a great loss.
Don't bailout newspapers. It would be a waste of money. Use any money which would have gone to papers to retrain former newspaper workers to do useful, necessary jobs to rebuild out economy.

[rbarry647]

I will miss the Sunday paper that is about it

[Mekarri]

When I hear the words bail out, I think about how many people will be suffering. But the MSM is just as responsible as bush for this mess we are in. They were never honest with the public. I think they need to go away for a little while or forever until they change the way they do business. If they are in the pocket of republicans or the democrats then there is no need for them to exist.

[larry278]

Buy a computer & a printer if you want a lot of waste paper after you read Sunday's news. If you must spend money, read the paper on a lap top in an internet cafe & pay the cafe's fees. You are welcome to get dressed, go to an iternet cafe, over pay to use a computer & copier, schlep the copies home, waste paper, throw it in the trash & waste your time.
I prefer to buy my bagels & vegie cream cheese on Sat night at 8:00 pm, make fresh coffee & toast the bagels about 11 am on Sunday & read the news on my computer & spend Sun in pj's, robe & sandals. Sunday is a day of rest. If you want to go to church & get dressed up, do it. Bonding with your lover over the Sunday NYT is vastly over-rated. Use the time to cuddle. Don't waste your time going out to buy a paper, bagels & cream cheese. Use the time for romance. Enough of the puritan routine. Relax, enjoy life.

[heartlandjim]

Newspapers are too biased. No!!!!

[twofish]

The problem isn't bias, it's biased newspapers with a local monopoly pretending to be objective. When I was growing up in Chicago in the 50's, there were at least 4 English language dailies: Tribune, Sun-Times, Daily News, Herald American, and maybe some I didn't know about. The Tribune and American were right-leaning, Sun-Times and Daily News left-leaning. There were weeklies, ethnic papers (my grandfather read the Deniy Hlasatel, a Slovak daily). There was the Chicago Defender, a black paper which I think was a daily for a while.

It was a rich environment with lots of people digging out information. You read the paper that generally agreed with your point of view, but the others were out there competing and if they broke a big story, you would hear about it on tv or radio or even in your own favorite paper.

Now most metro areas have one daily, probably on the skids. Who is going to dig out the truth now? Where's the competition? As usual, the principles of capitalism, like competition, failed when unbridled greed took over.

[Swatantra]

Print is dead.

[Bitsko]

Right. Get the illiterate public to bail out papers they stopped reading years ago. Good luck with that.

[noamjunior]

the mass media already has taken most of the local jobs out of newspapers, cuting local paper's reporters and editorial staff in favor of syndicated right-wing nonsense. letting local papers fail is an excellent idea

[Nesacake]

Let China, Japan and India bail them out. That's where all of our jobs have went.

[Rightone11]

OK~

[westreal]

There is literally nothing to be said about this because it would be the stupidest idea ever.

[benndissed]

no. no bailouts for media! period.

[Rightone11]

I agree~