Is this really what it has come to - columnists lobbying the government for a bailout?
Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law school professor, wrote in her last column for the Los Angeles Times on April 9 that it is time for a government bailout for journalism because our way of society is reliant on that profession for its survival.
"If newspapers become mostly infotainment websites - if the number of well-trained investigative journalists dwindles still further - and if we're soon left with nothing but the yapping heads who dominate cable ‘news' and talk radio, how will we recognize, or hope to forestall, impending national and global crises?" Brooks wrote.
"How will we know if government officials have made terrible mistakes, as even the best will sometimes do?" she continued. "How will we know if government officials have told us terrible lies, as the worst have sometimes done? A decimated, demoralized and under-resourced press corps hardly questioned the Bush administration's flimsy case for war in Iraq - and the price for that failure will be paid for generations."
With that reasoning in mind - that the government needs to pay for its own watchdog is reason for the government to bailout failing her brand of print journalism.
"It's time for a government bailout of journalism," Brooks declared.
Governments have long been involved with the journalism industry. Brooks may prefer the Canadian and British styles, but some of the more famous examples include Pravda, the journalistic organ of the Soviet Union and the official media outlets of the Chinese government - China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua - the state-run news agency and People's Daily - the news outlet of the China's Communist Party.
Brooks also revealed she is leaving to work for the government as an advisor to the undersecretary of Defense for policy at the Pentagon. She likened the profession she is leaving to a public service comparable to transportation, education and defense - and not a victim of the free market. In Brooks' wisdom, journalism is a social service and not a business.
"If we're willing to use taxpayer money to build roads, pay teachers and maintain a military; if we're willing to bail out banks and insurance companies and failing automakers, we should be willing to part with some public funds to keep journalism alive too," Brooks said.
Even more frightening about Brooks' view is that this government bailout would involve "granting licenses." Without these measures, she warns newspapers will consist of nothing more than fluff.
"Years of foolish policies have left us with a choice: We can bail out journalism, using tax dollars and granting licenses in ways that encourage robust and independent reporting and commentary, or we can watch, wringing our hands, as more and more top journalists are laid off or bail out, leaving us with nothing in our newspapers but ads, entertainment features and crossword puzzles," Brooks wrote. "Don't let it happen."
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Rosa Brooks.. Shaping U.S. policy at the Pentagon?
April 9, 2009 - 15:22 ET by Gary HallRosa Brooks.. Shaping U.S. policy at the Pentagon?
Jeff noted: Brooks also revealed she is leaving to work for the government as an advisor to the undersecretary of Defense for policy at the Pentagon.
Well, she went on to add:
Now, I'm faced with a tough choice. Which would have been worse, Rosa Brooks shaping US Defense policy at the Pentagon, or Michael Moore .. or Sean Penn.. or Danny Glover .. or Schuster .. or ..?
(;~/ gary
Yes she is very adept at
April 9, 2009 - 16:14 ET by Dan The Man 2Yes she is very adept at shaping policies and propaganda. Perhaps Obama is going to make a propaganda wing like President Bush wanted to do but backed down when the MSM objected.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
reliant for survival?
April 9, 2009 - 15:30 ET by katainkentI haven't picked up a newspaper in 15 years. I haven't watched cable news (other than occasionally being forced to by my father or my other half) in almost 10.
Somehow I still know what's going on in the world better than most of the people I encounter everyday.
Barring the end of the internet in the great solar storm of 2012, I think the printed news is a dinosaur that should be allowed to die.
News Flash, Boopie....
April 9, 2009 - 15:40 ET by SlyrrHere's a headline for you, Ms. Communist Media Leech:
The reason you're out of a job now is because people aren't buying your tripe.
Put that in your liberal bong and smoke it....
But I've been saying in many posts - I knew this was coming. Part of the reason the liberal press shamelessly pimped and whored for Obama in 08 was because they know their businesses are dying. And they think that since Obama is a communist just like them, they can have him 'take over' the press, and fund it with YOUR tax dollars.
Her entire article does nothing but prove that my prediction was sadly 100% accurate.
(What would she do if a Republican takes power again in 1012? Then the GOP will be her 'boss' - no?)
Bailout or Subsidy?
April 9, 2009 - 15:47 ET by slickwillie2001I agree that a healthy democracy needs journalism, but with rare exceptions we aren't getting it, so why bail out something defective? Isn't it best to let failing companies fail? A bailout by proper definition is a one time event that gets a company through a problem of some kind and allows it to return to a healthy state. How would a bailout change journalism into a healthy business? Or are they really asking for ongoing subsidization?
"How will we know if
April 9, 2009 - 15:49 ET by MidAmerica"How will we know if government officials have made terrible mistakes, as even the best will sometimes do?" she continued. "How will we know if government officials have told us terrible lies, as the worst have sometimes done?
What a laffer. What investigative reporting of the obama administration has these 'professional' watchdogs completed. As long as obama is President the only reporters that will get 'ink time' will be those who write in the syle of a teen fan magazine.
It's hard to know where to
April 9, 2009 - 15:54 ET by mattmIt's hard to know where to begin with this moron...
.
.
.
(shaking my head and walking away)
What is terrifying is
April 9, 2009 - 16:00 ET by bigtimerWhat is terrifying is creatures like Rosa and all her tentacles she has reaching in various places in the lives of all of us...one way or the other.
I want our country back...it is being taken over...at a break-neck speed, the likes of which I have never seen.
God, I wished congress would stay the heck out of DC....at least until the next midterm elections.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
I am with an earlier poster
April 9, 2009 - 16:06 ET by jdhawkI am with an earlier poster regarding this socialist moving to the Pentagon. My bet is she works on doing away with, "Don't Ask; Don't Tell, governing homos in the military.
Meanwhile, she is mistaken if we don't already invest in a government paid for press. It is called NPR. It is everywhere. There is not one acre of countryside in the United States that you can't get an NPR station. The result is an overwhelmingly one-sided leftist view of any topic you care to imagine.
Occasionally, because of a long commute, I will tune into NPR on the radio. I have never personally heard a conservative on any of their programs. What's more, when they do international coverage, they give the same air time and undue respect to the murdering thugs across the planet as they do freedom loving people that are shaping the news. It is an outrage. I get so angry listening to it, I change the station after one or two stories.
If the government attempts to nationalize the news industry, they will definitely get an ear full from me. I hope all of you are just a vehement in making a stand regarding this subject.
We have the socialists that pummel the major networks on TV and the major city newspapers on the run. Let's hope we can put them out of business before the next presidential election. Nevertheless, even now, they reach 50-60 million Americans every day.
have never personally
April 9, 2009 - 16:31 ET by Dan The Man 2have never personally heard a conservative on any of their programs.
I have, on occassion they do ley conservatives on. They usually let the dogs loose on them.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
their hubris knows no bounds
April 9, 2009 - 16:25 ET by wizardjrhow unbelievably self important
As if we won't survive without their guidance. Morons.
Anyone else find the irony
April 9, 2009 - 16:40 ET by JnobleLiberals always rail about someone being controlled or influenced or paid off by some shadowy figure behind the scenes (like FOX news and others being told what to say by the evil rich owners etc)...but when it comes to their jobs on the line, hey, bring it on!
Poor Rosa. People just aren't buying her half-assed "news" and has to go elsewhere to make money.
State Run Media
April 9, 2009 - 17:29 ET by NoJellyWell, if nothing else, state run media will finally be official...I get so tired of the empty denials.
Deluded
April 9, 2009 - 18:03 ET by DustBunny01When Government licences something, it standardizes it to protocols established by the government.
It also controls the holder of the license who can not perform the licensed activity without a government issued license.
If reporter A gets leaked information and publishes it and that report proves embarassing to the government, reporter A may find his license pulled or he/she might be pressured to give up the leaker and thus save his job at the expense of another's job or that leaker's freedom.
Dangerous - license implies
April 10, 2009 - 08:52 ET by dscottDangerous - license implies those without can not engage in journalism, i.e. it would be practicing journalism without a license. What Rosa is proposing is what many countries around the world do in order to control the flow of information to the public. In fact, reporting the news would become illegal IF it didn't come from an "official" source.
Example: you see 5 cops kicking the crap out of a hand cuffed prisoner and record it with your cell phone or camcorder. When you "report" your findings to either the newspaper, TV station or internet you would be in violation of the law and subject to arrest because YOU weren't licensed to be making such recordings for news purposes.
What Rosa wants is job security from the chattering classes.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Another lib parasite at the
April 9, 2009 - 18:08 ET by fitzfongAnother lib parasite at the Pentagon. What could go wrong?
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill
When you produce a product
April 9, 2009 - 18:20 ET by d1carterWhen you produce a product that cannot be sold...go to work for the government? She could always teach.../sarc
The kind of responsible
April 9, 2009 - 18:35 ET by snaggletoothieThe kind of responsible journalism Brooks refers to has not existed for nearly two decades. She has not noticed that it's gone so she couldn't have been too much of a fan.
She's right that democracy works best with a healthy press. Unfortunately her cure is as bad or worse than the disease.
Hoping the last LA Times
April 9, 2009 - 20:10 ET by RR GOPHoping the last LA Times employee to leave the building when they shut down will have the wherewithall to snag the Khalidi going away party tape forgotten in all the confusion and mail to Fox News Network, ATTN: Sean Hannity.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
They should try to petition
April 10, 2009 - 22:01 ET by rbosqueThey should try to petition the DNC for a job, they work for them anyway.