Bailing out newspapers next in line?
Posted by Scott "The Piper" St. Clair - April 07, 2009What delusion-inducing, over-ripe Blue Crab crabcake did Maryland Sen. Benjamin Cardin scarf in order to come up with his proposal to essentially bailout failing newspapers by letting them become 501(c)(3) non-profits? His Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow them to morph from a traditional business model into a charity, but would prohibit them from making political endorsements all the while ostensibly still reporting on all issues, including political campaigns.
Uh huh…yeah, right.
The theory is that newspapers would become much like the news-snoozers over at PBS and NPR (stop snoring!). Alms for the poor…alms for the poor!
But what will it mean when the formerly independent press is all of a sudden dependent upon the generosity of the U.S. Government for its survival?
Let’s rip some of today’s bailout headlines…
Fox News business reporter, Stu Varney, in a piece in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal and reiterated yesterday morning on the cable channel itself, wrote this about the Obama Administration’s intentions when it comes to firms that have received bailout funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program: “The White House wants to tell 'em what to do. Control. Direct. Command.”
Varney continued:
“If (recently sacked by the Obama Administration, former General Motors CEO) Rick Wagoner can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend? And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions? Our prosperity has never been based on the political allocation of credit -- until now.”
In other words, instead of making business decisions for business reasons, financial institutions, car companies, and other recipients of federal largesse will be forced to make business decisions for political reasons. Isn’t that what’s being done? When President Obama goes on national TV to announce the effective nationalization of Mr. Goodwrench and how his Administration will henceforth decide what new models you’ll see in GM dealers’ showrooms come this fall, doesn’t that qualify?
How creepy is that?
Fast forward to newspapers via Sen. Cardin’s proposed measure and plug in the Varney variables. A Reuters story on it was headlined: "U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers" (emphasis added). "Rescue?" Try control. The formerly free press, now beholden to the federal government for survival, all of a sudden may find itself being urged to write friendly stories about this ACORN while being subtly pressured to accord unfavorable press to that National Rifle Association.
How creepy is that???
Can’t happen, you say? Constitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, freedom of the press, you say? Well, since when has that stopped the gang in Washington, irrespective of party? Show me in the Constitution anything that gives the federal government the authority to force TARP funds (and subsequent federal control) on banks that don’t want them? Or where it gives the president the authority to moonlight as Car Dealer in Chief?
You can’t, can you?
It’s this type of thinking that gave the world the Völkischer Beobachter and Pravda (look ‘em up). Watch the New York Times eventually join that list - it’s but a matter of time.
The Piper
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