Had the good fortune to spend some time this week talking and thinking about the future of traditional media. There is, as you’ve probably heard, a fair amount of support for various modes of government action. Within that context, I think Dan Gillmor’s got a post worth reading:
But as people decry or laugh off a bailout of newspapers, as the New York Times’ David Carr did yesterday in his column, they should remember that government has never entirely lacked financial influence — and it doesn’t lack it now — over the journalism business.
Governments play major roles in the success or failure of all kinds of business. How corporations do business, and which ones pay which taxes, are decided by lawmakers. But journalism organizations have enjoyed their share of special treatment — and we should be glad, based on our nation’s early history, that they did.
Gillmor goes on with a brief history lesson on the very real ways that government lent a helping financial hand to the press over the years. He does come out against direct subsidies, and suggests where money might best be spent. Check it out.