Government Looks to Control... Umm I Mean Save Old Media

By Bobby Eberle

In an effort to save old media the administation is proposing a set of guidelines that would put the government in more control of the news that is delivered to the people. If this doesnt smack of thought police I dont know what does.   Through various legislation and actions Obamas government has gained partial control of the banking industry finance automobile production energy and of course health care. The whole idea is control... the more the government owns the more it controls and the less freedom the American people have. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a discussion draft of what it calls Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism. I didnt realize that journalism (real journalism that is) needed to be reinvented but leave it to Obamas government to propose solutions where there are no problems. The document is based on the struggling newspaper industry. I guess it doesnt matter that other forms of media are booming but because newspapers are starting to go into debt and fail then the government must step in. Hello! Its 2010 not 1955! The report notes that advertising revenue from newspapers has fallen

approximately 45 since 2000. For example classified advertising accounted for $19.6 billion in revenue for newspapers in 2000 $10.2 billion in 2008 and is estimated to be only $6.0 billion in 2009.

So... what is the government proposing to save newspapers? Answer: a whole host of initiatives paid for by you and me which would give the government more control in what news is delivered to the people. As noted in a story on FoxNews.com here are some of the proposals laid out in the reinventing journalism document:

-- the creation of a journalism division of AmeriCorps the federal program that places 75000 people with local and national nonprofit groups annually; -- tax credits to news organizations for every journalist employed; -- establishing citizenship news vouchers which would allow every American tax payer to allocate some amount of government funds to the non-profit media organization of their choice; -- increased funding for public radio and television; -- providing grants to universities to conduct investigative journalism; -- increased postal subsidies for newspapers and periodicals; -- a 5 percent tax on consumer electronics which would generate roughly $4 billion annually to pay for increased public funding.

Sounds typical doesnt it? Newspapers are struggling so lets pay for even more public radio and television. Its funny (not really) that public radio and television actually means government radio and television. Lets pay their postage. Lets pay liberal universities to conduct investigative journalism??? That one is really nuts. And of course the whole idea of creating a journalism division within AmeriCorps would only lead to the government getting exactly the kind of journalists it wants. Journalism is a JOB!! If there is not a demand for it then there will be fewer journalists. The government should back-off and keep its hands out of it. In addition the more the government moves into the journalism industry the more our free speech rights are at risk:

I find it dangerous for government to have a role in speech because the government gives and the government taketh away Jeff Jarvis an associate professor at the City University of New Yorks Graduate School of Journalism told FoxNews.com. Most of the ideas examined in this are politically untenable Jarvis said. The problem with this is that the FTC is trying to set an agenda here that some sort of government intervention is necessary. Its a power grab by the FTC and its also an example of one old power structure circling its wagons around another.

Raise your hand if you think conservative talk radio will get funding? I thought so.