FTC Staff Discuss a Tax on Electronics To Support the News Business 381
dptalia links to this piece describing a staff discussion draft from the Federal Trade Commission, writing "The FTC is concerned about the death of the 'news.' Specifically newspapers. Rather than look to how old media models can be adapted to the Internet, they instead suggest taxing consumer electronics to support a huge newspaper bailout. Additionally, they suggest making facts 'proprietary' and allowing news organizations to copyright them."
Note, though, "The good news in all this is that the FTC's bureaucrats try hard to recommend little. They just discuss. And much of what the agency staff ponders are political impossibilities."
Start laughing now... (Score:5, Interesting)
This would essentially put the government in charge of choosing which press agencies to sponser... Dangerous precedent...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, and who's going to report it as the bad thing it is?
The major news media? No, they'll just take their bailout and spin the news to all goodness and light and fluffy bunnies and fuzzy puppies.
Other outlets? No, they'll get sued to oblivion because the news media will have copyrighted the facts, so anyone else who tries to report on it will get a DMCA Smackdown.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Precisely... all the sources that don't have paper products, such as the online news sources that have been steadily replacing newspapers over time.
This would be where Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo (among many others) get to step up and be "heroes". Part of the plan? Perhaps...
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File that under "other outlets" in my post.
If this passes (which I doubt it will, but let's just theorize), the media who receive the bailout will simply apply the other half of the law - they'll copyright the facts of the law.
If anyone else attempts to report on the facts of the law, the major media will have plenty of cash coming in to hire lots of sharks with legal beams (lawyers) to monitor other news media sites and swamp them with DMCA takedown notices.
First they'll go for all competing media and drai
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> All of the news outlets that don't get the bailout, perhaps?
You don't understand how Progressives work. Everyone with any audience will get the bailouts, online, cable, legacy networks, dead tree. Just like the banks who were smart enough to see the trap and initially said "No thanks." until they were all brought into a conference room and told "You WILL take the money."
Once everyone is on the government teat nothing else will change for a while, as slowly the whole industry realigns to the 'new norm
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You can't copyright facts, but thanks for playing!
Re:Start laughing now... (Score:5, Informative)
RTFS
That's the other part of this proposal: that news agencies will be able to copyright the facts they report on so the blogs et al can't just take them and 'comment' on them to get their content.
Re:Start laughing now... (Score:4, Funny)
That's dangerous and ridiculous to be able to copyright facts.
People have 4 fingers and 1 thumb on each hand.
Now nobody can report that anywhere! MWAHAHAHAHA.
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Re:Start laughing now... (Score:4, Insightful)
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You can't today, and I doubt you ever will be able to.
But... From the summary: " Additionally, they suggest making facts 'proprietary' and allowing news organizations to copyright them."
Let me summarize the summary: "they suggest allowing news organizations to copyright facts"
This conversation is based the GP's premise of "If this does pass", therefore my assumption for the purposes of the conversation was "If a law is passed to allow news organizations to copyright facts."
Context. It's important.
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Re:Start laughing now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, laughing at this proposal is appropriate, but there is a real problem.
Unfortunately, I think that I am the problem.
In spite of the fact that I understand and value the role that newspaper play, particularly in investigative journalism, I continue to increase the amount of news that I get online.
I often visit the sites of the same newspapers that I have always trusted, but I know that the revenue they get from my online presense is much less then they got from the subscription that I have now cancelled (and its associated advertising revenue). Once they get good enough, I'll get a pad or a tablet and stop reading from paper completely.
As well, I'm slipping into reading articles from scattered sites, probably because those scattered sites pander to my particular view of the world and don't have to uphold the journalistic standards that the newspaper did.
To top it off, I don't believe in bail-outs, which usually don't work and are typically politically motivated anyway.
So, I'm not sure what the solution is, but I know that there is a problem. Not much help am I.
Re:Start laughing now... (Score:4, Insightful)
This kind of bullshit is exactly why America needs to wake up and vote for people who are truly conservative. I do not mean "neocon" type conservatives who consider the Constitution an inconvenience, and certainly not "liberals" (as in the moonbat type) who consider it to be toilet paper, and I don't mean outright libertarians either; I mean people who actually read and understand the Constitution and who are grounded in common sense, and don't intend to legislate morality, prop up big business with pork legislation, not tell us what we can and can't eat, not legislating marriage (and in fact take marriage AWAY from government since interference in marriage is restricting freedom of worship as marriage is a religious construct), and certainly not tell us what we HAVE to buy (see: Obamascare, which is based on Massachusetts' failed RomneyCare), and not those who rack up insurmountable piles of deficit spending.
Vote for people who want to preserve and protect the Constitution, that way the public good will truly be preserved for the generations to follow us. We need to stop voting based on who will protect or punish big business, but for those who consider the long term ramifications of such legislation. Vote for those who don't push for extended government micromanagement of our lives.
We have only ourselves to think by turning it into a Red vs. Blue debate and allowing, no, demanding that government enforce those "values." Take back the country by voting for constitutionalists (regardless of party affiliation) and don't try to legislate what other people do. Want to affect change? LIVE the example; don't try to legislate it.
Otherwise, the result will be exactly this kind of unconstitutional copyrighting of facts bullshit, and the perpetual "mickey mouse" and "sony bono" copyright laws. It really is a s;ippery slope because people see an opportunity to become a career politician than a true leader. The making of a good leader is a good servant. Constitutionally, our elected leaders report to us. In practice, politicians see it the other way and we need to send a very clear message to these stupid fucks in office that WE are in control and THEY are in place to SERVE.
Let them Die (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Let them Die (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let them Die (Score:5, Insightful)
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You've got it backwards. Media consolidation was a consequence of the collapse; as circulations fell, newspapers had to merge to survive. This is easily seen by simply observing that the decrease in circulation started happening *before* the consolidations.
Re:Let them Die (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately, this sort of thing is all out of proportion because of the state of the economy and the number of unemployed people already out there. In better times, much of this would be ignored.
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Somehow I don't remember the DMCA or the Copyright Term Extension Act being passed during a recession.
Re:Let them Die (Score:5, Interesting)
We didn't try to artificially keep wagon wheel business alive when cars were invented.
Yes you did. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Let them Die (Score:4, Informative)
LOL! If this is true, Wow!
"In the United States, the state of Vermont passed a similar flurry of Red Flag Laws in 1894. The most infamous of the Red Flag Laws was enacted in Pennsylvania circa 1896, when Quaker legislators unanimously passed a bill through both houses of the state legislature, which would require all motorists piloting their "horseless carriages", upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to (1) immediately stop the vehicle, (2) "immediately and as rapidly as possible... disassemble the automobile," and (3) "conceal the various components out of sight, behind nearby bushes" until equestrian or livestock is sufficiently pacified.[1] The bill did not pass, as Pennsylvania's governor used an executive veto.
Dear Lord, let's pacify the livestock by disassembling the car. It's a shame that retarded politics was around even back then...the more things change...the well, you know the rest.
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Choice quote:
The most infamous of the Red Flag Laws was enacted in Pennsylvania circa 1896, when Quaker legislators unanimously passed a bill through both houses of the state legislature, which would require all motorists piloting their "horseless carriages", upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to (1) immediately stop the vehicle, (2) "immediately and as rapidly as possible... disassemble the automobile," and (3) "conceal the various components out of sight, behind nearby bushes" until equestrian or livestock is sufficiently pacified.
Wait... what did they think was going to happen? The horses were going to freak out upon seeing a carriage with no horse in front of it?
Re:Let them Die (Score:5, Funny)
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Why are we always so concerned with keeping companies in business. We didn't try to artificially keep wagon wheel business alive when cars were invented. This is absurd, if a company can no longer sell something, sell something else, or die off.
While normally I agree with the idea of making businesses survive and fail on their own I'm a bit more hesitant to agree to letting the news industry fail. I wouldn't want to get all my information from blogs, word of mouth or press releases from the government. Remember most of the stories posted here are from a news source of some sort or another. If the news agencies failed It would leave a huge information vacuum that the government could fill as it wished. And lets not even think about the quality of
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Re:Let them Die (Score:4, Insightful)
If the news agencies failed It would leave a huge information vacuum that the government could fill as it wished.
And you don't think those same news agencies will be beholden to the government when the government is the one keeping them in business?
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Yeah, and no one goes to shows anymore - they're too crowded.
I'm afraid the more tabloidy stuff and the more charged editorial stuff is what goes out because that's what makes money. I wonder what the ratings are
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The wagon wheel people were at least smart enough to adapt to the changing industry. They tried to leapfrog automobiles all together and developed rocket engines. Sadly it marked a messy end to the leisurely carriage ride. However, it did kick start the space race.
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Forget letting them die; they should be killed. News should be shared, not sold.
Right, because journalism doesn't cost a dime to the journalists.
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Right, because journalism doesn't cost a dime to the journalists.
Modern 'journalism' mostly seems to involve reprinting press releases and rewriting information from Wikipedia, so surely it can't cost that much?
government meet the court system (Score:3, Interesting)
unless congress passes a law i don't see this surviving a lawsuit. and with the clout of the electronics industry i doubt a law will pass allowing this
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Never the less, we are already perilously close to "making facts 'proprietary' and allowing news organizations to copyright them."
The first news organization to publish a story often has a monopoly on that story until another journalist (no bloggers need apply) gets there and files a report (usually after the fact).
For that interval, the story is for all intents and purposes proprietary. Doesn't matter what Joe Citizen saw (unreliable eyewitness), or what Polly Pajama Blogger posts (unprofessional). The s
I don't see anything wrong with this (Score:4, Funny)
Go ahead, "copyright" your investigated information. Good luck suing the hundreds of thousands of blogs and websites that will still link to your info. And besides, if they provide a link to the news company's website as a way to cite a source (just like I do with my own webpage when I post about content I have read elsewhere), what's the problem? You still get credit, you still get the traffic.
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Sorry, forgot to add the ::sarcasm:: qualifier. Yes, I have a problem with this. No, I don't believe it would ever actually pass.
Re:I don't see anything wrong with this (Score:5, Insightful)
Go ahead, "copyright" your investigated information.
Oh fuck them and their investigated information. Asshole journalists steal the research done by bloggers, like myself, all the fucking time. While bloggers happily link to the information they are using for their work, journalists never do and cite how it's just not done in their industry.
While I am happy to research, request, and even sometimes pay to make data public which may not have been before, I do expect that the journos will cite that work I did when they use my materials when they write their stories--just like I do for them. Using other people's work without citation is called plagiarism anywhere else in the world and I really and honestly believe that the entire journalism field needs to go back to college and learn how to do their jobs again. Perhaps at that point the industry will turn around for them.
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I don't live anywhere near the area your site covers, but it looks like a great source! If I lived around there, I would definitely utilize your information (and make sure to give credit, of course:-))
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Good luck suing the hundreds of thousands of blogs and websites that will still link to your info
Some people [slashdot.org] have no problem suing thousands of internet users to protect a dying business model.
Bail Me Out Please (Score:5, Insightful)
Failing businesses should be allowed to fail. Someone will figure out a successful business model and will fill the void or a market that no longer needs to exist (hello buggy whips) will fade into the history books.
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hoe often
Words of wisdom, my brotha, words of wisdom.
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Last time I checked, we live in a capitalist society
This has nothing to do with capitalism. The media companies give extremely large campaign contributions to the politicians. The politician is not going to receive another check during the next election cycle if the company no longer exists. That's why the government is willing to save their failing business models.
Re:GM (Score:4, Interesting)
Wrong.
GM deserved to die because it was mismanaged for decades. Their products have been crap for a long time, they haven't made a decent car in decades, and it shows in the sales figures. The only reason they were profitable before was because of the SUV craze. However, GM pissed away this opportunity, and instead of using the temporary windfall from the sale of highly profitable SUVs to build a "rainy day" fund or otherwise make the company strong for the next recession, they were completely caught with their pants down when gas prices rose and then again when the recession hit, killing the SUV craze suddenly. With no more cash cow to abuse, GM had no more money left.
Ford, OTOH, managed to manage their company well enough that they avoided this fate, even though they were profiting off the SUVs alongside GM, and had all the same issues with union work and costs.
So, in the end, instead of Ford being rewarded for their superior business acumen, they got to watch stupid, mismanaged GM get an unearned bailout.
GM should have been allowed to die. It could have been split up and sold off to Ford, Honda, Toyota, and the other automakers. That "vast system of suppliers" should have been able to hang on until then, as they would have been needed to supply these other companies who would now be selling more cars. Any company that can't handle a temporary disruption to their sales has no business staying in business.
Ayn Rand was right. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's frightening just how much modern American government has become like the nightmare Statist government in Ayn Rand's novels, constantly meddling with and attempting to control market forces that it and it's members are incapable of understanding or wanting to understand.
Regardless of what you may think of her personally, she was prescient.
Re:Ayn Rand was right. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's frightening just how much modern American government has become like the nightmare Statist government in Ayn Rand's novels, constantly meddling with and attempting to control market forces that it and it's members are incapable of understanding or wanting to understand.
Regardless of what you may think of her personally, she was prescient.
Far too many people are willing to ignore good advice when they don't like the messenger, or the people associated with the advice. There is also another reason people ignore good advice that scares me even more. It's when the advice is ignored because they cannot accept the implications of what that would mean.
I guess the latter reason also scares me because I often find myself making the same mistake. It's easy and comforting.
As with Ayn Rand, it's like any other book, it takes an effort to distill the insightful portions from the author's other opinions.
Libertarian alert! (Score:3, Insightful)
It's frightening just how much modern American government has become like the nightmare Statist government in Ayn Rand's novels, constantly meddling with and attempting to control market forces that it and it's members are incapable of understanding or wanting to understand.
Regardless of what you may think of her personally, she was prescient.
Regardless of the merit of this case, don't you think it's just a bit early to come with this magic market libertarian stuff as we are still in the midst of a major financial crisis caused by massive deregulation?
I am not bothered by the fact that you exist; I am seriously concerned, however, that there was one person to mod you insightful...
Re:Libertarian alert! (Score:4, Insightful)
Regardless of the merit of this case, don't you think it's just a bit early to come with this magic market libertarian stuff as we are still in the midst of a major financial crisis caused by massive deregulation?
Has it occurred to you that government interventions in the marketplace helped to create the imbalances that contributed to the financial crisis? Government keeps interest rates artificially low, thus negating any real incentive to save, then wonders why we have high debt and low savings rate. Government favors large corporations at the expense of small ones and then wonders why large players dominate the financial/telecommunications/medical/etc industries.
Ever heard of regulatory capture [wikipedia.org]? Ever wonder why established business lobbies in favor of regulations that make it harder for upstarts to enter the market?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You obviously have not read "Atlas Shrugged", or tried to understand the regulatory environment created around the banking system. There was plenty of regulation, and the book cited did a pretty good job of explaining how it broke. Alan Greenspan claims to be a true believer of the book, but that makes him either an idiot, liar, or thief.
Let me explain myself. In "Atlas Shrugged", the government played a role in the downfall of the country, but that role was mostly as a pawn for the true villains of the
Isn't that libertarianism? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, she wasn't. (Score:2, Interesting)
...constantly meddling with and attempting to control market forces that it and it's members are incapable of understanding or wanting to understand.
Back in the 1800s, our economy would oscillate between booms and busts. Depressions were the norm during the dips in the business cycle. Sure there were corresponding booms, but the crashes would wipe out most of the wealth created. Businesses wanted government intervention to flatten out the business cycle and make things more predictable.
Completely free markets do not work. They eventually break down and we end up with a crash and an aristocracy. Start reading 19th century American business history (Roc
Stop. Just... stop. (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear Washington,
You're doing it wrong.
Thanks,
Everyone
Seriously what the hell? Stop giving our money to greedy corporations. Want us to buy a house? Spend more on crap? Buy new cars? HOW CAN WE DO THAT WHEN YOU KEEP TAKING OUR $?
OH wait. You'll just take it and give it to corps for free.
Now, I am not a tax hater. I am fine with taxes for things like emergency services, libraries, roads, schools. The difference is those services provide for the public good. Forcing me to hand money over to your buddies at the "too big to fails" is bullshit. You crooked fucks.
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P.S. The oil seems to be getting a thick down south.
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Huh, what?
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Dear Everyone
You voted us in.
Thanks,
Washington
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Yes I'm sure corporations would be better off if they had to pay for all the roads and infrastructure needed to distribute their goods on their own.
But will they also bail out the typewriter makers? (Score:5, Funny)
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I mean, it's like totally unfair that PC manufacturers pulled the rug from under the typewriter business. I propose a tax on... let's see... yes! deodorants! and, uhhm, pipe wrenches! to save the typewriter business. And the monk scribes that used to copy books before that horrid man Gutenberg took their jobs away, they deserve some recompense. Let's tax... exotic pets.
You laugh, but we may have seen such lawsuits if the new industries that were forming were not born of the industries that were replaced.
Con
wtf (Score:2)
In other news... (Score:2)
New automobile tax proposed to revive buggy whip industry..
Innovate or die.
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Alot of Electronics are sold with out sales tax so (Score:2)
Alot of Electronics are sold with out sales tax so is this just a back door tax to make up for that?
the sound of clashing ideologies (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, this is where I laugh. I'm a socially conscious, progressive kind of guy. I believe in humanitarian capitalism, not social darwinism. But in a case like this, they're proposing a tax to support a business model that cannot support itself in light of other players able to make a living providing the same kinds of services.
I do support operating businesses with a social benefit at a deficit. Public transit does not usually support itself entirely from the fares collected but receives subsidies from the taxpayers because it's of social benefit to all. After all, how much money does the local fire department collect from you to provide emergency services? There's no fees, it's all direct 100% taxpayer support. But we all agree that this is something we need. Same with public schools.
What I find especially amusing is the same free market evangelists who would huff and puff about how awful the fire department is would probably also line up behind the newspaper bailout, especially if they happen to be columnists. Socialism for the goose but show the door to the gander.
I do agree that competition is a good thing and a major problem with government-sponsored monopolies is that there's no competition, no choice for the customer if they don't like what they're getting. But there's not a whole lot of competition amongst "private" industry, either! Smaller competitors get gobbled up until we get too-big-to-fail companies every bit as broken and inefficient as the communist state-owned industries we were warned about in our economics textbooks. Oh, it's bad when they do it but ok when our guys are doing it? Riiiight.
I like what the brits have tone with the BBC. I could get behind that kind of government support. I don't want to see Ruport Murdoch sucking at the public teat while putting out his bullshit.
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What I find especially amusing is the same free market evangelists who would huff and puff about how awful the fire department is would probably also line up behind the newspaper bailout, especially if they happen to be columnists. Socialism for the goose but show the door to the gander.
When you get to define the terms and groups, you can imagine all sorts of asinine reactions to fit your worldview.
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Seconded. I'd mod you up if I could. If this does pass we'll essentially be nationalizing the newspapers. Didn't we decide that that was a bad idea with the phone company? Of course, given how that turned out I'm not certain if that's a condemnation or an endorsement.
We could certainly do worse than the BBC though and we likely would.
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Actually, is it the business model, or the fact that the content has become so piss poor no one cares anymore? Televised news is the same. Does *anyone* ask a followup question anymore?
Typical exchange:
Reporter: What do you think of state bill 31415?
Politician: The people who supported that bill are mutant, baby eating Nazis financially backed by pedophile terrorists from the fascistic hegemony of Earth 7B.
Reporter: (nods head)
Politician: Of course, I have yet to actually read the bill, but I have it on goo
Wouldn't be the first time... (Score:5, Informative)
Newspapers were subsidized by the Federal government until about 1840 or so, due to the founder's desire to make sure there were plenty of options for people to be well informed.
Link here [suite101.com].
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'Subsidies' are one thing. Most subsidies noted at that link were along the lines of paying topublish legal notices, and of course discounts from the Postal Service, which is probably trying to bail on those right now.
But taxing anything to directly support newspaper publishers is offensive. Offensive. And clearly (IMHO) a violation of the First Amendment. The opportunities for abuse are spectacularly apparent. This needs to fail immediately.
Now, if they really want to tax something to prop up newspaper
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Did we learn nothing from the previous bailouts? (Score:2, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Corruption (Score:2)
Who the hell do they work for over there at the FTC? The American people or the newspaper industry?
Free market is speaking (Score:2)
The free market is talking to us right now about the death of newspapers and old media... much in the way it spoke about the lack of innovation in the U.S. auto industry. We love free markets and malign other countries that do not subscribe to it.
Yet here we are, looking to tax people to bail old media out. We can't have our cake and eat it too.
If the gummint wants to talk about new taxes, why not put it toward something like education or hunger?
Why can't the workers in the old media jobs learn new skills
No problem discussing... (Score:2, Interesting)
have they completely LOST IT??? (Score:2, Insightful)
have they considered this bit of law??
"Congress shall make no law ... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
this fails on these grounds.
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"Congress shall make no law ... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
They already say that an onerous tax is not an abridgement of freedom. Just as long as the law doesn't specifically say you can't do something, our failure of a Supreme Court will be just fine with it.
No way (Score:3, Insightful)
Want to save the news business? (Score:5, Insightful)
Put a tax on lying.
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I think they should put a tax on "editorials". It seems to me that 99% of news media is analyst blathering and 1% actual, factual, reporting.
This isn't about supporting a failed business (Score:2, Insightful)
Link (Score:2, Informative)
Are they actually proposing anything? (Score:5, Informative)
Some stakeholders have proposed amending the Copyright Act to specifically recognize hot news protection. Advocates argue "the copyright act allows parasitic aggregators to 'free ride' on others' substantial journalistic investments," by protecting only expression and not the underlying facts, which are often gathered at great expense...
Hot news advocates are divided, however, on whether federal law should be revised to encourage state law development of hot news doctrine or to provide uniform, statutory federal hot news protection... The likely effects of a more vigorous hot news doctrine are controversial. For example, on eworkshop participant noted that New York's hot news doctrine was important to the AP's efforts to protect its intellectual property, but recognized that any "federalization" of the doctrine would need to be very carefully drafted to avoid unintended costs... Others also have argued that expanded IP protections for the news would be too costly. News organizations and writers, including print, broadcast, op-ed writers, and other commentators, routinely borrow from each other. One panelist suggested that "[m]uch of what is done by newspapers with each other is actually problematic under existing hot news doctrine."
The paper does include a number of possible direct revenue sources from the government as possibilities, such as tax breaks or increasing punding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. However, it also includes the following:
Representative Waxman noted in remarks to the FTC workshop on December 2, 2009, that those advocating for public funding "need to articulate the scope of such support, in terms of the activities to be supported and the dollars required. They need to respond to the concern that government support of journalism would lead to government control of content. And they need to explain the source of revenues."
Most of the paper goes on like this, presenting different sides of each proposal. Which is to say that unlike what the commentator in the OP states, this isn't so much the FTC dictating that the government deliberately save the news industry in any one particular way, but is more a roundtable discussion about different ways that it might occur. If you disagree with what's discussed, you might want to leave your Congressman a call.
newsPAPER? (Score:2)
We should be pointing out again that people have rarely bought a newspaper because they wanted the paper. If the point of this is to subsidize printing newspapers, then it's not a news-related bill at all. It's a bill to subsidize the killing of trees.
This might be more acceptable if it specifically subsidized non-print news distribution, e.g. via the Internet. That might solve the actual problem, which is that the newspapers are being killed by electronic news distribution.
There is plenty of precedent f
Well... (Score:2)
Can we call it Socialism now?
Stop trying to reverse the evolution of the market (Score:2, Insightful)
Rumours of death of news greatly exaggerated . (Score:5, Interesting)
Newspapers aren't, for the most part, loosing money. They're becoming less profitable. Historically, newspapers have enjoyed fantastically high profit margins. Due to a falloff in revenue from shrinking circulation and less interest in print classifieds, those margins have shrunk to being merely moderate.
Back in the days when newspapers were run by private companies or wealthy families most papers probably could have weathered these leaner times, these days most major papers are held by big public media companies. These companies can't tolerate a drop in profits, so they are firing reporters and closing beuros in order to maintain those margins.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow. An informed Slashdot reader. You dare post something meaningful in a discussion about newspapers in the midst of a mob of teenagers (along with a few right-wing idealogues) chanting "Death to Print Journalism"? ;-)
You're right, of course, about the underlying problem. You did, however, neglect to throw in the bit about how most all newspapers are finding it impossible to reconcile their viability with the pitiful revenues from online advertising. That problem has no easy solution.
There are success
We need this, but in the form of TV license fees! (Score:2)
We desperately need an independent, publicly funded television network. News reporting has turned to complete and utter rubbish and it's time to put a stop to it. I say television because, let's face it, the number of people smart enough to read newspapers in this country is dwindling fast. TV gets much more exposure to a wider audience. This would benefit everyone and not just news--entertainment as well, which is suffering immensely and dumbing down the populous. I really do revel in the thought of a
Just make the News public domain. (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's not blame the wrong thing. (Score:2)
News like this tends to rile people up about "the government." Let's take a step back and realize that these problems don't exist because of government, but because of undemocratic governments. Do you think people in FTC were just sitting around and said, "hey, let's introduce a new tax and give it to newspapers!" Obviously not. Giant "news" corporations are lobbying for it. It's more their government than yours. That's why it's being considered.
Absurd taxes (and other bailouts and laws in general) like the
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Goddammit - why should newspapers have to change to suit the internet? Newspapers were here first! It's not fair - the internet should be the one that has to change!
(Isn't that the rationale of a four-year-old?)
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A new law to be passed: Everything on the Internet must first exist on paper.
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The automakers, yea they should have bailed them out, the got screwed because the banks screwed with their borrowing money.
The banks, well too big to fail is just full of fail.
No, the automakers are kind of strategic assets and the domino effect from their failure would have pushed the US and the industrialized world into a depression.
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No, the automakers are kind of strategic assets
No, their plant and equipment are strategic assets. That equipment wouldn't have vanished if GM went out of business. It would have been bought up by more nimble competitors during the Chapter 7 proceedings.
Re:No bailout for newspapers (Score:4, Insightful)
What do you mean, "without someone to sell to"? Do you think the demand for automobiles would have disappeared just because GM went under? Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. would have had to expand their capacity to meet increased demand. The easiest way for them to do that would have been to start purchasing parts from GM's now idled suppliers. There was no reason to bail them out other than as a gift to labor. Look at the way the administration abused the bankruptcy code. The bankruptcy code said that the bondholders were secured creditors and should have been repaid first -- but they got screwed while the unions got most of what they asked for.
Beware the Government that can't even be bothered to follow it's own laws.
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And with the country going into a recession, a certain proportion of the workforce being laid off, and the sudden downturn in sales for their suppliers, all reducing the amount of available consumer resources - where is the increased demand supposed to come from?
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From the millions of people that would have otherwise bought GM automobiles? You can't have such a bad understanding of economics as to believe that GM's demand comes entirely from employees of GM and GM suppliers.
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And a tax on horse dung to subsidize shoe manufacturers.
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There is good reason to worry about the loss of an independent source of information to an otherwise uninformed electorate.
True, but I thought we were talking about newspapers?
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why have an agency and taxes, those local papers smart enough to get online (which has very low barrier to entry and very low cost) can survive while the dodos should go extinct. Adapt or die.
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There is good reason to worry about the loss of an independent source of information to an otherwise uninformed electorate. So all the comparisons to capitalism "we didn't bail out the wagon-wheel, buggy-whip, ...has-been technology" are a bit shoot from the hip.
How is it an independent source of information if it needs to rely on money from the government to stay in operation?