Congressman: Govt Will Need to Help Shape Media

Meredith Jessup | December 02, 2009 5:00 PM

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today spoke of how important quality journalism is to U.S. democracy, and concluded the best way to protect struggling media organizations is for the government to step in.

Reuters reports:

Waxman, other U.S. lawmakers and regulators are looking into various options to help a newspaper industry hurt by the shift in advertising revenues to online platforms.

Tweaks to the tax code to allow newspapers to spread losses over a greater number of years, providing a nonprofit structure to allow for public and foundation funding, and changes to antitrust laws are being considered by lawmakers and policymakers.

"Eventually government is going to have to be responsible to help and resolve these issues," Waxman told a conference hosted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on the future of journalism.

Ah, yes, this makes perfect sense. A free press is so important we should have the government regulate it.