[...] The idea already has its fair share of critics. [...]

[...] the way, I wish I could take credit for knowing that quote. I can’t. I culled it from a blog comment on the Nieman Journalism Lab and verified it at [...]

[...] Tim Windsor was first out of the gate in a post on the Nieman Lab blog with a second argument I expect to hear more of: Doesn’t special help for newspapers impede the growth of emerging media in search of an economic model? [...]

[...] of the hare-brained Newspaper Revitalization Act that’s briefer and more biting than that by Tim Windsor on the Nieman blogs. “I am immediately suspicious of any effort that has as its starting point that newspapers [...]

See Zachary Seward’s post above for a good discussion of some reasons it makes sense to explore nonprofit status for news organizations:

http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/03/non-profit-news-outlets-deserve-a-tax-exemption-for-ad-revenue/

My beef is with the focus of Cardin’s legislation, which is all about putting something on life support (paper) rather than focusing on how to create a possible exemption designed to help keep journalism viable. That would be worth discussing, at least. The current bill strikes me as counter-productive to that goal.

[...] one voice opposed to the idea of government creating a more favorable environment for the survival of [...]

[...] still worth discussing because, despite the flaws noted here — and in similarly critical posts by Tim Windsor, Rick Edmonds, Steve Yelvington, and Jeff Jarvis — the Newspaper Revitalization Act touches on [...]

If there’s nothing to link to, what are bloggers gonna do, make it up? Then link to each other’s speculations?

I want to see how many of those “young people” Calcanis idealizes are gonna show up with a raft of lawyers at the Supreme Court over their right to publish the Pentagon Papers.

How many people still use 35mm cameras? How many people still use typewriters? Companies such as Kodak and Polaroid have abandoned their old products and are now focusing entirely on digital cameras and other electronic media devices. When typewriters started to become obsolete, such companies started to produce word processors, electronic calculators, PDAs, and other devices.

The newspaper industry is not any different from any other industry that exists under our capitalist system. It must either adapt or die. People’s ways of obtaining information are changing. There are now 24 hour cable news networks and the world wide web has democratized information. Anyone can become a reporter of sorts by blogging about an event or “Twittering” about it. CNN has even capitalized on the ability of the common person to produce news with their iReport.

It will be interesting to see how the newspaper industry as a whole adapts to the new challenges it is facing. I do have concerns about the authenticity and reliability of web journalism. I myself stick to mostly websites such as CNN.com, MSNBC.com, nytimes.com, etc. However the newspaper industry is not so venerable or so big that it can not fail. The newspaper industry as we know it is on its death bed. Any direct or indirect bailout from the government is nothing more than putting an industry with a terminal disease on life support.

This Is For Your Own Good…

Is that some kind of gang sign?  Or a hand gesture for Trekkies?
Either way, Sen. Benjamin Cardin is the latest intellectual midget to make a grab for the limelight.  His brainchild is the so-called Newspaper Revitalization Act, which would allow ne…

[...] Tim Windsor (Nieman Journalism Lab): If the government (the government!) starts getting in the business of propping up the fading part of journalism’s business model, forget the ethical and constitutional issues, it’ll effectively cut off oxygen to the parts of the business that are trying to innovate. [...]