Here we go…

Earlier this week, I reported that Barack Obama is open to a newspaper bailout.  And now, congress is meeting in order to “examine the importance of newspapers to our democracy throughout our nation’s history and the treacherous economic landscape they face.”

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney is reported to have said (from Editor and Publisher):

“The witnesses will review alternative funding options for newspapers in our new and ever-changing electronic age. Since the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the federal government has acknowledged that the press is an institution which is afforded special protections by name. In this spirit, I think that the government can help foster solutions for this industry in ways which protect the independence of newspapers and enables their objective reporting to thrive in a new economic and media climate.”

Now, alternate funding options?  So, if a business fails at doing business, it needs to garner–which is a poor word because it implies work being involved–funds elsewhere…

“Government fostered solutions” to “protect the independence of newspapers” and enabling “objective reporting to thrive.”

Really?  Does the above sentence make any sense?  I didn’t think so.  A free press is important, a free press beholden to the government isn’t free.

Read

Yes, folks.  Barack Obama is “happy to look at” bills that would bailout newspapers…

Barack Obama said journalism is “critical to our democracy.”

He is true, but he should have phrased it as, “Good journalism is critical to our democracy when it is not beholden to the government.”

Obama went on to say,

“I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding.”

Clearly, the only fact-checking going on is on the blogosphere.

Also, we are putting some stories into context and will have it for you soon.  The only shouting will be that of “Extra!”

Read–The Hill

Dan Rather wants Barry to form a White House commission in order to save media.

Rather:

“A truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom. This is not something just for journalists to be concerned about, and the loss of jobs and the loss of newspapers, and the diminution of the American press’ traditional role of being the watchdog on power. This is something every citizen should be concerned about.”

Here is a quote from the Aspen Daily News:

“Corporate and political influence on newsrooms, along with the conflation of news and entertainment, has created what Rather called ‘the dumbing down and sleazing up of what we see on the news.’”

Folks, Mr. Rather is willing to let some democratic principals die away in order to save democracy. His argument is patently false. If there is a White House commission, there will be political influence on newsrooms. This sort of commission could make the media an agent of a federal government.

From the Aspen Daily News:

“The free press, as established by the First Amendment to the Constitution, ought to operate as a public trust, not solely as a money-making endeavor, Rather argued, and it’s time the government make an effort to ensure the survival of the free press. If not the government, he suggested, then an organization like the Carnegie Foundation should take it on. Without action, he predicted, America will lose its independent media.”

Yes, I agree, but, as someone who wants to break into Journalism, I don’t want my news outlet to be run by the government. While journalism is a public trust–which many outlets have lost, it needs to be independent from the government. How can the media be an agent of the government while still being an independent media?

Read

Something funny is going on here…  Apparently the Daily Show’s host Jon Stewart and Mad Money host Jim Cramer are feuding funny folks.  I don’t know what the hell it is about…I don’t really care…I just thought that the following line was one of the funnier lines in a news article I have read…Here it goes:

“In an interview taped Thursday afternoon that went far beyond its allotted time, Stewart repeatedly chastised the “Mad Money” host and CNBC for putting entertainment above journalism.”
…

?

Read