Bemoaning the decline in advertising for newspapers, two leading media figures, in a report from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, the bastion of establishment liberal journalism, call for taxpayer spending on the news media, advocating that public radio and television be “substantially reoriented” to “provide significant local news reporting” and for the creation of a “a national Fund for Local News” paid by “fees the Federal Communications Commission collects from or could impose on telecom users, broadcast licensees or Internet service providers.”
In a Monday op-ed, “Finding a new model for news reporting,” former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson, a professor of communication at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, previewed a “comprehensive report commissioned by” the school, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” which was to be posted Tuesday (PDF version) but was put up late this morning on the site of the school's magazine. Echoing the rationale for ObamaCare, the duo contended the fate of the legacy media is a governmental responsibility:
American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting news reporting -- as society has, at much greater expense, for public education, health care, scientific advancement and cultural preservation, through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy. It may not be essential to save or promote any particular news medium, including print newspapers. What is paramount is preserving independent, original, credible reporting, whether or not it is profitable, and regardless of the medium in which it appears.
Amongst their proposals, which would inevitably lead to more liberal output from the journalists matching the interests of government bureaucrats and political appointees:
♦ The Internal Revenue Service or Congress should clarify tax regulations to explicitly allow new or existing local news organizations to operate as nonprofit or low-profit entities, allowing them to receive tax-deductible donations, along with advertising revenue and other income.♦ Public radio and television should be substantially reoriented, through action by and reform of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to provide significant local news reporting in every community served by public stations -- reporting that too few of them do now.
♦ A national Fund for Local News should be created with fees the Federal Communications Commission collects from or could impose on telecom users, broadcast licensees or Internet service providers. Grants should be made competitively by independent state Local News Fund Councils to local news organizations for innovations in local news reporting and ways to support it.
Downie, after 17 years at the helm of the Washington Post until September of 2008, is now a journalism professor at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Related, from the MRC's Business & Media Institute: “The Great Newspaper Bailout; Liberals, politicians, journalists want Uncle Sam to save news with your tax dollars.”
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
→ Public Funding
October 19, 2009 - 12:29 ET by Cool ArrowHow the journalism proffession has fallen!
Now they're asking for hush money.
Give me immortality, or give me death - firesign
What change in ownership ?
October 19, 2009 - 12:34 ET by LEWIS IN COLORADOBased on the last 7 or 8 years, I thought they were owned by the demonrat party.
A test if you will.
October 19, 2009 - 12:39 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonAre the media in question losing revenue due to:
A. Nobody believes them to be reliable sources and are turning to other sources, and the advertisers are following the demographics?
B. They are too big to fail, and need our help as taxpayers to ensure their survival?
C. We're just a source of revenue and new methods of disbursing our wealth need to be found and funded?
http://gjresult.com
X
October 19, 2009 - 12:39 ET by serfer62And of course Fox News is included...
nooo...
October 19, 2009 - 12:41 ET by katainkentAs Axelrod said "they [Fox] like to make money"
the rest are taking one for the team! *sniff*
____________________________________________
The Emperor, he has no clothes
say what?
October 19, 2009 - 12:59 ET by jon_torlinI thought that was a very odd thing to say, but then again the guy's a communist. It makes sense in that context.
Funny thing is, now that he's made that statement, how do the liberal media shills for the White House feel about that? If the pay czar starts making cuts in their pay, what are they going to do? After all, Dunn said "we control the media."
I wonder how they like that?
-Jon
as Hannity says "journalism is dead"
October 19, 2009 - 14:08 ET by LEWIS IN COLORADOIt seems that a bunch of msm/srm outlets were suckered by an EMAIL report that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was going to support the climate change bill. But it was a hoax and msm/srm did NO ! fact checking ! I don't know more of the details but I am sure our fellow posters will help expand the details. one link to breitbart/ cnbc on the hoax story. http://www.breitbart...
Government supported mass media
October 19, 2009 - 12:58 ET by CO2Makeris called TASS media.
Been there, done that.
Individual responsibility
October 19, 2009 - 13:18 ET by CobraMan"American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting news reporting."
Actually, it's the other way around, the individual reporters must take personal responsibility in their reporting. Until they do that, they'll continue to lose support of individual Americans. It is this lack of individual support which is hurting the news media, not a lack of collective support. This is why some news media outlets do much better than others.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
support for communists
October 19, 2009 - 13:13 ET by cheesegraterWhen I was in school, late 1950's & 1960's, we were taught that the media in communist countries were cowed into supporting the reds. I believe that the teachers we had in those days believed what they were teaching us. Now, I believe that the "news" organizations in those countries were just as complicit in their support for their communists as our current SCM is complicit with our homegrown variety.
We were required to take a
October 19, 2009 - 23:17 ET by RR GOPWe were required to take a course called "comparative political
systems". My teacher was a staunch anti-Communist. In another class we
saw the TV movie about the USS Pueblo incident. I remember other teachers along the way telling us how living in a Communist country would really suck and how cruel they were.
Guess kids don't hear that much nowadays.
But, I also remember growing up and learning (mostly from the media, sometimes in school) that Senator McCarthy was
an SOB and that there really weren't any Communists in the U.S.A.,
learned nothing about the Stalin/Mao regimes...learned about the evils
of White rule in Rhodesia and South Africa, but nothing about the
Communist terrorists who they were trying to deal with nor the various
tribes they were trying to keep from each others' throats...and a whole slew of lies, Libtard propaganda, omissions and half truths.
Reading this forum and a couple of others, many of us are still buying into the lies and aren't questioning/researching enough. Once you do, your world view changes dramatically.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Save The Post Office
October 19, 2009 - 13:22 ET by JDWWhat do these non-for-profits do? Cut employees, spend, and continue current format until they once again run the bank account dry.There is no incentive to provide a value added benefit to be competitive. They simply go broke and request additional taxpayer dollars.
Another idea here is to tap the Internet which amounts to nothing more than a step towards controlling it.
JDW
DAILY WAVE
I didn't know ACORN was getting a lot of money
Reagan was right
October 19, 2009 - 13:34 ET by CobraManReagan was right about liberals (democrats) and their philosophy: If it moves, tax it. If it continues moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. This "report" highlights this philosophy perfectly: If a news outlet exists, tax it as a privately owned business. If it flourishes as a privately owned business, regulate it as a "public service" (fairness doctrine, anyone?). If it flounders as a regulated, privately owned, "public service" business, subsidize it.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
I thought the exact same
October 19, 2009 - 14:19 ET by mattmI thought the exact same thing....as soon as I read your post.
Excellent.
Yeah, we don' need no
October 19, 2009 - 13:40 ET by HockeyKidYeah, we don' need no steenkeen' First Amendment!
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
WE THE PEOPLE...
October 19, 2009 - 14:14 ET by danybhoyDon't laugh, these thugs will try to nuke the 1st Amendment with the General Welfare Clause. Meaning our free speech will be against the general welfare.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
No problem. If someone
October 19, 2009 - 14:34 ET by buddycNo problem. If someone wants to use the designation "journalist" they should be licensed and regulated just like insurance salesmen, doctors, accountants and attorneys. They should have ethical standards and be policed by the state for violations of those ethical requirements just as other professions are.
I don't get it, I thought the DNC paid pretty well. Do they need more?
I agree.
October 19, 2009 - 17:59 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonMake them fill out log books like PROFESSIONAL drivers are required to.
List where they were, when they were there, what they learned, and when did they learn it.
http://gjresult.com
So in essence
October 19, 2009 - 15:39 ET by Thinking.ManNobody wants our product
That's not fair
Give us money
Nothing but more leftist confiscation of wealth they have no idea on how to produce to promote their own flawed philosophies, what a joke, what irony.
Liberals want everyone to
October 19, 2009 - 16:24 ET by TenebrousLiberals want everyone to eat turds and then force us to support the harvesting of turds. Think about it. Whether its homosexual indoctrination, obscene "art", newspapers with unwelcome viewpoints, agencies for doing nothing, subsidizing farmers for not farming -- the list is endless. Whenever something is wasteful, useless, or offensive, the liberal solution is to create more of what people don't want and then make them pay for it.
I fully expect to see Hell littered with people who think like this, for what they do is find the worst in humanity, encourage it, and then make others keep it going.
Liberalism is evil.
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Random-jumbled-thoughts.blogspot.com
Anita Dunn
October 19, 2009 - 16:31 ET by JDW'Obama team controlled the press' Why shouldn't government be funding them?
JDW
DAILY WAVE
I didn't know ACORN was getting a lot of money
Hey, I've got your business model.
October 19, 2009 - 17:54 ET by pbthinkerSay, rather than a government take-over, why do you try insulting 1/2 your readers, only cover stories about the administration if they're supportive, and make obvious negative comments about the politican party that doesn't agree with your politican philosophy. I still say that the DNC should provide funding for the nations newspapers since the majority of them are in the tank for the Democrats anyway.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
HA! since when did democrats
October 19, 2009 - 18:35 ET by MrSnugglesHA! since when did democrats ever believe in spending their own money to meet their goals?
OK, ENOUGH!
October 19, 2009 - 18:54 ET by BlueCat57I'm sure all of us that use the Web know that there is an absolute, god-given right in the Constitution to free ultra-high-speed Internet access. Not the cr@ppy 3MBs that we get here in the U.S. but the really fast-access like they have in Japan. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I read in the Constitution that all citizens that participate in blogs and commenting on the Internet were to be paid $100 per hour with no verification of participation necessary.
→ Like EnergyStar?
October 19, 2009 - 18:59 ET by Cool ArrowSorta' likeslapping "Energy Star" labels on your appliances so they qualify for tax credits?
Turns out you don't have to prove anything to make the "Energy Star" claim.
Bravo Obama!!
Give me immortality, or give me death - firesign
I should be working for a Ivy League school
October 19, 2009 - 22:16 ET by Worriedbecause I'm smarter than these "professors of journalism."
What happened to dignity, ethics, objectivity?
THEY ALL GET AN EFF FROM ME.
When is this liberal nightmare going to end?
The
October 20, 2009 - 09:15 ET by jessieHThe govt. owns the media and now liberals want us to pay for them to tell us more lies. I don't think so. The American people want the truth, not what the white house wants us to know. The media has made a mockery of the last election.