Obama: News Becoming "All Blogosphere," Open To Newspaper Bailout

The Hill:

Saying he is a "big newspaper junkie," President Obama expressed hope on Friday that newspapers can find their way through the financial crisis most are now mired in.

In an Oval Office interview with editors from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade, the President talked about the vital role journalism and newspapers play in American society.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[mybigunit]

Government owned newspaper/media is right out of Stalins playbook. I cant believe the i/g/n/o/r/a/n/c/e on this thread. You guys are FOR government media which when bailed out they will be.

[Mahi Joe]

Where does this article state that the government will own the media? Wow, you can't even read a simple article without distorting and outright lying about what was actually stated. You people are so bitter and hate filled that you will say and do anything to distort the truth.

[marco01]

I agree with the President.

We can't allow legitimate media to fail.

And his idea about making them non profit would go a long way to taking out conflicts of interest. Their motives would be much purer.

[FirstForty]

Before we bail out newspapers lets reverse the Reagan acts of the 80s which started the deterioration of TV and the press with deregulation. We can start there. Lets reverse consolidation.

[marco01]

Sounds like a great place to start.

[respected]

Oh my, oh my! The GOP is not going to like this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8664703

[marco01]

Good

[Ken Maddox]

My local paper continues to shrink in size and content, and increase in price and advertising content. My internet content continues to increase in size, content, and advertising while it stays relatively stable in price.
What then should I read? The paper or the news content on the internet. I now obtain most of my news from the internet, with Huffington Post being my major source.
I am a proud supporter of President Barack Obama. I sincerely hope for passage of his major programs. He has a difficult job to do and an increasingly hostile environment to work in, but he must continue.
The health of the nation depends on making changes to the way government does its business.

[novoorganum]

Touchman: The herd must be reminded.

[Torsin]

Finally. We'll have an objective newspaper supported by a fair minded government.

[touchman]

Fair-minded gubment. LOL. Now that is an oxymoron if I ever saw one.

[touchman]

Tax breaks for the media that hates tax cuts? This is a non-issue. The failing businesses need to learn from the very successful ones on how to survive in the real world. Not all newspapers/news sources are failing, just the ones that deserve to fail.

[constitutional 1]

Mr Prez, selling health sham-wow style

[marco01]

The only shams I hear are the ones coming from the right.

[novoorganum]

When the bewildered herd asks its government to do something. The conservatives and their self-entitled elite paymasters make vacuous statements like, Get a Job, Communism, Lefty, free-market, blah, blah. But, when our government acts on behalf of wall street, banks, ceo's, agro-business, private defense contractors, corporations, in the form of subsidies and bailouts; you get rationalizations. In otherwords, what they are really saying is: socialism for private wealth and power, but for you and I-- the free-market-- where if you fail, it is your own fault-- tough luck and tough love.

[touchman]

I swear you said this exact thing the other day on a different story. Yawn! Got any new stuff?

[marco01]

I hope he keeps saying til it sinks in.

I mean, if repeating ad nauseum works so well for the lies of the right, why can't it work for the truths of the left.

[ProudNeoCon]

This is a non-story... All Obama have said is that newspapers need to find the way to make money... Dahh...

[BigAl72]

The only way they can stay afloat is by adding more consumer coupons and specials to their pages.

[DamaskinosWasRight]

There is a better way. They can for a subscription Federation , which gives the user access to all the papers for one low monthly fee.

The fee is broken up to each site based upon which sites the user visited.

http://corporate-statesmen.org/images/Subscription_Federation.pdf

It is a way to save quality journalism ...

[marco01]

If you were listening, apparently you weren't, he said a lot more than that.

[SteamRanger]

Newspapers are failing due to a lack of integrity and piss-poor business decisions, combined with advances in technology and changes in how people get information. But, Mr. President, if I were in your place, I don't think I'd denigrate the bloggers too much. After all, you winning last years election was made possible in large part by the efforts of online blogs.

[Hopeington]

Ok, Im gonna say this again, cuz you all keep talkin bailout like The President said it or something. Am I missing something or is this an example of what he's talking about?
No where in this article did he even remotely suggest a bailout...
Gibbs.."I honestly don't think there's anything the government can to about this"
and President Obama said he'd LOOK at some bill if somebody brought one for him to look at.
A tax break if you become non profit is not a bailout. If you're a non profit your taxes are different, so, still nothing new....they don't need a legislation to do that????
Did the person that wrote the headline, read the "article"? Or were they busy reading DUH magazine?

[apolloguide]

We are now entering the post-education era of the planet.

[DinSea]

Life is the abject imitation of media, especially TV .. it's all about entertainment.
Actors make more $ than teachers and have become cultural heroes.
In the prophetic words of Roger Waters: "This species has amused itself to death"

[apolloguide]

LOL, So True !!!

[DontJustFollow]

Well let's see - Obama comes into office and through bail outs with OUR money promptly takes control of the 2/3rds of the domestic automobile industry (forcing half of his project to be sold to Italia), the banking industry (putting Little Timmy in charge of his peers), the insurance business (was AIG really a good addition to his new portfolio?), and now he has his sites set on the newpaper industry...

I am a pretty stout conservative but looking at the way Obama hired and fired people in the auto and banking industry - doesn't it shake EVERYONE up to know that soon OUR money is going to be used to shape the editorial staffs at newpapers?

How long before Obama goes after the networks ?

[We-Are-The-Ones]

Let's see.

The auto companies begged the Federal government for help. Help was provided and they are now out of bankruptcy and restructured.

The bailouts were passed under bush in September (you know Obama was not President until January of 2009).

And insurance was one business and not the insurance industry.

And if you had bothered to read this article, you would see how st00pid you are.

[justwaitandsee]

"And if you had bothered to read this article, you would see how st00pid you are."

Key word here is "if you had bothered to read" problem here is that they can't read or comprehend.

[DontJustFollow]

not to sound too st00pid but the link said "the Hill" and then sent me to "The Blade" and the article ended with Obama saying he was "open" to all ideas -

when a sitting President says he is open to bailing out the print media that should make all free speechers nervous. Bush did not administer the funds of the bail outs and did not involve himself in staffing decisions and salary decisions did he?

I forgot it was Bush that fired the CEO of GM and organized the fleecing of the investors in Chrysler and decided that no matter the cost the UAW must be protected... Pretty st00pid of me, it all took place this spring remember? That Bush is pretty smart to be able to do all that after Obama took office don't you agree?

[FeloniusMonk]

Had these same businesses went to private banking or investment people and asked for loans, they too would have stipulated rules and management changes and how the company should be operated in order to insure that they aren't just throwing money down the drain. And if private investment takes over a newspaper, you ARE assured that they will dictate what the editorial direction is, because they do not have the First Amendment limitations that the government does. Just look at any paper Murdock has taken over if you want a clear example.

[apolloguide]

You are a true conservative, fanned!