Waxman: mGovt will need to help shape U.S. media:

Reuters ^ | 12.2.09

[libh8er]

A top Democratic lawmaker predicted on Wednesday that the government will be involved in shaping the future for struggling U.S. media organizations.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, saying quality journalism was essential to U.S. democracy, said eventually government would have to help resolve the problems caused by a failing business model.

Waxman, other U.S. lawmakers and regulators are looking into various options to help a newspaper industry hurt by the shift in advertising revenues to online platforms.

Tweaks to the tax code to allow newspapers to spread losses over a greater number of years, providing a nonprofit structure to allow for public and foundation funding, and changes to antitrust laws are being considered by lawmakers and policymakers.

"Eventually government is going to have to be responsible to help and resolve these issues," Waxman told a conference hosted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on the future of journalism.

Free Press, a public interest group, said the search for solutions to the crisis in journalism should be premised on the idea that news-gathering is a public service, not a commodity.

[xkaydet65]

Public services aka utilities are regulated. Airlines and trucking outfits are regulated. Media will be regulated. What are the only elements of the newsbusiness? Information and Opinion. They will be regulated. For the public good of course.

[MichaelP]

Can anyone say Pravda?

Mike

[RC2]

The government in Germany did the same thing in the early 40’s didn’t they. They basically controlled it.

[IamConservative]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 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.

Guess the Constitution is completely worthless now..

[RexBeach]

This is such horse hockey.

Mr. Waxman, as usual, is grossly incorrect.

Newspapers are in business to make $. If they cannot make $, they go out of business.

None of these numb tacos want to subsidize my business or give me tax breaks.

Putzes.

[libh8er]

A look at Free Press:

"..Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications..

..Free Press was launched in late 2002 by media scholar Robert W. McChesney, journalist John Nichols and Josh Silver, our executive director. Today, Free Press is the largest media reform organization in the United States, with nearly half-a-million activists and members and a full-time staff of more than 30 based in our offices in Washington, D.C., and Florence, Mass.."

The founder of Free Press is Robert McChesney, a radical leftist of the same league as van Jones, Bill Ayers.. et al

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Free press.... free from what? Free from any pretense of objectivity? Free from pretending they’re not a propaganda organ of the state?

[Lancey Howard]

Wow. Now the scumbag Democrats want to use taxpayer dollars to prop up their shills and enablers in the big city newsrooms. I guess it makes sense for the scumbag Democrats, but if the Republicans don’t go to the wall to stop this they should be tarred and feathered out of town.

[wac3rd]

The Statists need to have the Marxist propaganda continually fed to the dumbed-down-by-Leftists-in-public-schools crowd to re-enforce entitlement, faux self esteem and green/gay/abortion/PC/anti-Christian/suicidal Democratic demogoguery.

Waxman is the problem.

[NativeNewYorker]

This ain’t the country I grew up in.

[MichiganConservative]

Pravda is already more trustworthy than the NYTimes or MSNBC.

[FrankR]

Remember the old saying, "What if someone gave a big party, and nobody came?".

Well, what if the government "shaped" a news media and nobody read, watched or listened to it?

The liberals make their big mistake by assumming in the end they can control the peoples' "free will", a trait even God chooses not to mess with.

If you try and rule by force and tyranny, then the ruled class will spend every waking moment figuring out how to get rid of you.

If you try ruling by trickery, you will eventually be found out, like global warming, monica lewinsky, and bernie madoff.

We the people are in charge, per the Constitution. The "government" is our sub-contractor, there to provide defense and limited infrastructure...that's it.

We are witnessing history now - with the obama administration and the libs, we are now finding out why the Constitution was written to protect the people from Government.

That having been said, all of the attempts now to subvert the Constitution should be rightfully seen, and punished as "treason". The Constitution is NOT being protected and defended per the oath taken by all elected officials...they spend the better part of each day looking for loopholes in it to increase the wealth and power.

But as long as the hearts, minds, and free will of the people play by the words in the Constitution, and NOT the words coming out of Washington, we will win everytime.

Onward Christian Soldiers

[WOBBLY BOB]

Another brilliant idea from Nostrildumass.

[MichiganConservative]

The government uses that tax code to capriciously reward what they like and punish what they don’t like, thus intervening in what would otherwise be free decisions people make.

The tax code (IRC) should not exist. It is a huge part of the problem.

[Lancey Howard]

I don’t see changes to the tax code to be government intervention actually. Repressing someone less is always a good thing.

Not when it is selectively "repressing someone less". The scumbag Democrats one day don't like what they are reading in the newspapers? Ah, well... guess those tax code changes need to be changed back...

[DGHoodini]

Waxman also said that the ailing buggy whip and whale bone corset industries need to be btrought back under the auspicies of Government mandate! that it is a shame that they have been neglected so long and it is a travesty how many of the employees from these industries have been let go, to suffer life on the welfare roles, having their only livelyhoods stripped from them.

[Joe Brower]

Waxman: Living proof that you scratch a liberal, you find a fascist.

[ryan71]

Mr. Waxman, we not only have Climate Gate, we also have Paper Gate. Yes Sir, we have been lied to for many years by most news papers and we refuse to pay for it any longer.

Next time you intend to buy a paper, spend your money wisely and buy a clue.