U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers

[-Cp]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE52N67F20090324

[avatar4321]

So do we really want state run media?

[Monkeybone]

my thought is "oh well". yah it sucks for those guys to be out of jobs, but oh well. the newspaper has been on its way out since Gore invented the internet. If they go...they go. Nice time in history....but bye bye now.

Also, wouldn't it be greener to not have newspapers? think about that yah hippies.

[sgtdmski]

Like it or not this is what happens when a new media comes into existence. Why purchase the NY Times when you can read the articles online? THe same holds true for the other papers. Instead of fighting the trend, these papers should embrace the internet, and work harder to limit the actual numbers of papers they print. That right there would be a major savings.

The newspapers don't need a bailout, they need to modernize.

dmk

[Little-Acorn]

If you accept the government's money (or tax breaks in this case), you have to do more of what government tells you.

This is becoming the main characteristic of all the activity from our Congress and President for the last few months. And now it's the newspapers' turn.

It's not clear how the newspapers' problems constitute any kind of national emergency, nor how the demise of a few of them would threaten the stability of the U.S. economy. But nonetheless, Congress has decided that they, too, should be the recipients of government largesse... and just a teeny bit more government control over what they can print. First amendment? No, sorry, this is an emergency, and so we can ignore that.

This bill puts only a small restriction on them - they can no longer print political endorsements. It's just a little thing - look at all the stuff the government will still allow them to print! Who could possibly care about such a small restriction.

You don't think the government later on, say in a few years, will add just a little more restrction to the list, now do you? Like maybe, they can no longer print political opinions? Or how about a "fair and balanced" restriction: For every conservative opinion, they must also print an equally long liberal opinion. Hey, it's just a little bit more. Who could possibly complain.....

And the people who worry that there is a connection between the desire to HELP (and regulate just a little) newspapers, and the administration's desire to regulate the pay of just a few executives (for now) and seize just a few really critical companies, surely are silly and paranoid. I mean, what precedent can you point to, to a government gradually expanding its control and eventually making those restrictions serious?

Naw, we can trust our government to never do that. So, there's no need to follow silly, antiquated laws in some 200-year-old document, designed to prevent such a thing.

[PostmodernProphet]

restructure as nonprofits

does that mean they would hold fundraising marathons like they do for public television?......."we interrupt this article and will resume publication tomorrow so long as enough of you phone in to contribute to support this type of news"....

[DannyR]

Maybe the government will bail out the photographic film industry too. I hear its been suffering a lot lately too since that digital camera fad started. :poke:

News over the internet got the ball rolling for the papers, but thats not why I quit. I still enjoy having a paper with me when eating my lunch each day, but no longer. They are offering less and less and charging more and more.

I used to subscribe to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It was an great paper for me. Lots of news, large editorial section, two pages of comics, metro section for Atlanta, and an additional county section as well dedicated to where I lived. Large movie section on friday's with a lot of special columns. Chess and other puzzles. I loved it.

Today, most of that is gone. Chess column disappeared. Movie section is now a few pages on Fridays and bound in with the normal Living pages. Comics are down to a single page. The dedicated county section is totally gone. Editorial section is half the size it used to be as well, and it costs 50% more each day to buy a whole lot less. Number of ads tossed in seems to have increased too, so there is less news on what paper is printed.

I'd love to subscribe to the paper. But not with the quality they are offering now.

[glockmail]

So do we really want state run media?Might as well be now. They are in bed with Obama.

[moderate democrat]

Like it or not this is what happens when a new media comes into existence. Why purchase the NY Times when you can read the articles online? THe same holds true for the other papers. Instead of fighting the trend, these papers should embrace the internet, and work harder to limit the actual numbers of papers they print. That right there would be a major savings.

The newspapers don't need a bailout, they need to modernize.

dmk

how is letting papers restructure as non-profits a "bailout"?

[Little-Acorn]

how is letting papers restructure as non-profits a "bailout"?

From the article:

"...a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks."

[moderate democrat]

From the article:

"...a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks."giving the newpapers a chance to pay less in taxes in the future by altering their status to that of a non-profit organization is not the same thing as giving them taxpayer funds in the present... imho.

[Mr. P]

how is letting papers restructure as non-profits a "bailout"?


washington (reuters) - with many u.s. Newspapers struggling to survive, a democratic senator on tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

duh! a form of bailout without direct funding. Geeeezzzzzzz. classifiying a profit making business as a non profit cuz their having profit problems...where do we stop? 95% of businesses don't make it 5 yrs..should we prop them up too?

[moderate democrat]

duh! a form of bailout without direct funding. Geeeezzzzzzz. classifiying a profit making business as a non profit cuz their having profit problems...where do we stop? 95% of businesses don't make it 5 yrs..should we prop them up too?


so anytime we lower any tax rate in the tax code, we should classify that as a bailout?