Obama Administration Seeks to “Reinvent Journalism”
The Federal Trade Commission has just released a major staff study of modern American media titled “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism.” And….
…silly you thought the private business of journalism was doing that by itself in its own stumbling ways without the help of the Washington branch of the Chicago Democratic political machine.
The study notes those industry-wide revival efforts and adds:
There are reasons for concern that experimentation may not produce a robust and sustainable business model for commercial journalism. History in the United States shows that readers of the news have never paid anywhere close to the full cost of providing the news. Rather, journalism always has been subsidized to a large extent by, for example, the federal government, political parties, or advertising.
True, there have been government subsidies over the decades in the form of below-cost postal rates and printing contracts. But this FTC study is rated R for anyone who thinks the federal government, the object of copious news coverage itself, has no business deciding which sectors of the private media business survive and thrive through its support, subsidies and encouragement with things like tax incentives.
Is it crazy to think of the Government under Obama having a heavy hand in the business of journalism? Malcolm observes:
Well, two years ago who’d have thought the feds would own General Motors with major holdings in a bunch of banks and financial institutions, reshaped the healthcare industry, spent $787 billion on who-knows-what to create some jobs, have rewritten a package of new financial regulations to corral Wall Street and still not be securing the U.S.-Mexico border?
Well, some of us actually aren’t that surprised, and predicted all along that Obama’s policies would be disastrous. And I’ll go out on a limb and predict that he’s going to try this too.
But it has to be fought, tooth and nail. Once the Government officially gets its claws into the press — and blogs will follow, make no mistake — it will never let go. And once the Government controls the flow of information to its citizens, our republic will be nothing but a memory.
Besides the obvious nonsense about subsidizing “journalism”, there are proposals to expand copyright law to protect “hot news” and “proprietary facts” that are themselves outrageous.
This stuff needs to be cut off at the knees quickly, I’ve already written my congressman and Senators on this.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/2/2010 @ 6:38 amWe tried to tell you about this guy. You better hope he fails.
SarahW (af7312) — 6/2/2010 @ 6:53 amI think it’s interesting that Malcom is at the LA Times which is otherwise brain dead. His is the only thing I read there except for football season.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/2/2010 @ 7:03 amPotential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism?
I call it spooning with Obama.
Arizona Bob (e8af2b) — 6/2/2010 @ 7:11 am. . . and journalists who so spoon will get an STD.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90) — 6/2/2010 @ 7:24 amLet’s hope they get a raging case some something, BJF. It is creepy, as best, to watch Teh Ear Leader walk down all these pig paths towards Marxism while the press suckles him all the way.
Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 6/2/2010 @ 7:50 amI would be interested in hearing the likes of Hootenany, imdw, MediaMatterz, Olbergasm, and the rest of their ilk defend this.
JD (9d8cb8) — 6/2/2010 @ 8:59 amCould this re-invention involve journalists actually reporting facts?
kansas (7b4374) — 6/2/2010 @ 9:06 amBut he is a good man trying to do what he thinks is best for this country?
Mr. Pink (8f78e4) — 6/2/2010 @ 10:11 amIf it moves, Tax it;
If it continues moving, Regulate it;
If it stops moving, Subsidize it!
It seems that steps two and three will be merged as it applies to journalism, which many in the industry see as their only means of survival.
AD - RtR/OS! (db90f3) — 6/2/2010 @ 11:33 amIs there any reason my comments keep getting deleted or is it just my winning personality?
Mr. Pink (8f78e4) — 6/2/2010 @ 11:49 amBut, but, but…
Government funded journalism like the BBC is independent from external influences like corporations and exploitative corporate interests. The only way to truly free the press is to have it funded, and regulated, by government. Corporate control of journalism contributes to the current white male dominated hegemony. Walter Lippmann, who inspired the creation of Journalism schools in the first place, wrote that there needed to be top down control of the press to minimize disinformation being handed out to the public. We need bureaucratic experts to determine what is news worthy and what facts are relevant.
We cannot expect people to think for themselves and to look at the biases underlying the press that they receive.
Christian (3290f5) — 6/2/2010 @ 1:40 pmMy first thought on this is – what part of “Congress shall make no law … or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;” do they not comprehend. Surely this would be struck down by the Supreme Court, right? Well, for anyone out there who thought Elena Kagan was not worth fighting over, this is the reason. She is completely in favor of government being able to impose some restrictions on speech. For that reason alone her nomination should be fought.
JD(2) (adfbc2) — 6/2/2010 @ 1:43 pmGovernment funded journalism like the BBC is independent from external influences like corporations and exploitative corporate interests. The only way to truly free the press is to have it funded, and regulated, by government. …there needed to be top down control of the press to minimize disinformation being handed out to the public. We need bureaucratic experts to determine what is news worthy and what facts are relevant.
We cannot expect people to think for themselves and to look at the biases underlying the press that they receive.
Comment by Christian — 6/2/2010 @ 1:40 pm
Are you being serious or sarcastic?
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 6/2/2010 @ 2:14 pmSuccessful sarcasm. 😉
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 6/2/2010 @ 2:24 pmThanks Stashiu,
I’m glad I maintained my composure and asked before I used up too much energy on a rant.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 6/2/2010 @ 2:50 pmC’mon, people! Be serious! Even if this well-intentioned proposal is enacted into law, the Supreme Court will strike it down.
They did it for McCain-Feingold, remember?
Oh …
Mike G in Corvallis (fd5fcd) — 6/2/2010 @ 2:52 pmBTW, I need to sweep cookies clean or I end up in the twilight zone of blog postings past.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 6/2/2010 @ 2:52 pmThe very steepest road into Hell is paved with the very best of intentions.
(I’ve deleted all of the Patterico cookies, and blocked more from being placed. This will go away when things get better.)
htom (412a17) — 6/2/2010 @ 3:21 pm“just my winning personality?”
Mr. Pink – Nobody would intentionally delete your comments here unlike some other sites since you are obviously a good commenter who is only saying what is good for the site. May I suggest the swordfish, sideways?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/2/2010 @ 4:52 pmI do not think Christian was joking.
JD (de02cc) — 6/2/2010 @ 5:22 pmNo other motivation than to control the narrative and hamstring – if not criminalize – talk radio and the new media. Completely in line with a Castro… a Chavez… and many other Marxists
GeneralMalaise (8de279) — 6/2/2010 @ 5:32 pmHe was, trust me. 😉
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 6/2/2010 @ 5:45 pmThen that was remarkable, as it managed the exact tone and sneering that the leftists use so effortlessly.
JD (de02cc) — 6/2/2010 @ 6:01 pm(I’ve deleted all of the Patterico cookies, and blocked more from being placed. This will go away when things get better.)
I now use Google Chrome on this site instead of Firefox. Chrome shows me all the comments.
Bradley J. Fikes (fb9e90) — 6/2/2010 @ 6:15 pmFirefox is working for me now but it wasn’t yesterday.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/2/2010 @ 6:20 pmI think it’s interesting that Malcom is at the LA Times which is otherwise brain dead. His is the only thing I read there except for football season.
Emily (2ca3ab) — 6/3/2010 @ 9:15 amI have been warning family and friends for over a year that between moves at the FTC and the FCC, freedom of speech is being threatened now like never before in this nation’s history. Yet, I can’t get traction with them on this issue. Somehow, people seem to think our Bill of Rights are safe behind some kind of unbeatable force field that will stave off any attack.
Where are the liberals whose heads were exploding when Bush authorized eavesdropping on phone conversations with terrorists overseas? Recent legislation requires every business relationship that sees more than $600/year change hands be reported annually to the IRS via a 1099 filing. Every single bit of information about our healthcare and medical conditions will be collected into a federal database. The new financial regulatory act requires the federal government to collect and analyze every credit card transaction in the U.S. Known Marxists are now advising the heads of the FTC and FCC on correcting the notion of free speech and freedom of the press in this country. These advisers turn to Chavez as a guiding light in managing the press. Cass Sunstein talks about employing armies of paid journalists to discredit sources of information that disagrees with official government positions on issues. it goes on and on and on.
Is there anything more important to our survival as a free nation than freedom of speech and an independent press?
in_awe (44fed5) — 6/3/2010 @ 11:27 am