Newspaper Bail Out?

Is there any industry that Barack Obama won’t bail out? Regardless of it’s own incompetence ?

Nope:

Saying he is a “big newspaper junkie,” President Obama expressed hope on Friday that newspapers can find their way through the financial crisis most are now mired in.

In an Oval Office interview with editors from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade, the President talked about the vital role journalism and newspapers play in American society.

“Journalistic integrity, you know, fact-based reporting, serious investigative reporting, how to retain those ethics in all these different new media and how to make sure that it’s paid for, is really a challenge,” Mr. Obama said. “But it’s something that I think is absolutely critical to the health of our democracy.”

(…)

Mr. Obama said he noted the trend. “I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding,” the President said.

“What I hope is that people start understanding if you’re getting your newspaper over the Internet, that’s not free and there’s got to be a way to find a business model that supports that.”

Where oh where do I start ?

Golly, where will I get my news from? Oh, but you're going to need the AP and Reuters right?

If it weren’t for YouTube and Twitter would you have known what was going on in Iran?

How about the Dan Rather/Bush National Guard story in '04? Someone finally was able to call Rather and CBS on not doing their homework.

I'd say there are more resources now than just cutn'pasting AP wire stories now-a-days.

Furthermore, Obama’s complaint about the Internet being “people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding” ignores the history of print media itself. Even as recently as 50 years ago, newspapers were biased as World Net Daily and the Daily Koz: and they were hardly the vanguard of rational debate on issues of the day, and they didn’t always perform their supposed role of information the public.

Also, I don't like the State actually owning a media outlet. It's one thing for only five corporations to do it, it's another all together for the State to physically own the news. As it is, his Administration has been accused of using the NEA for political purposes.

Sigh, just another day. What's the over-under of Obama bailing out the candlestick makers and the Whaling industries next?