Governement takeov....err "bailout" for the media?

[Thelona]

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/03/government-to-bail-out-newspapers/

http://www.aim.org/on-target-blog/rep.-waxman-advocates-media-bailout/

Rep. Henry Waxman trekked from Capitol Hill to Federal Trade Commission headquarters today to deliver a message to journalists and news consumers: All of you need to reach a consensus about working with the government in order to bail out the struggling news industry.

The California Democrat, who chairs the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, didn’t say it quite so bluntly, but his point was clear. “Government’s going to have to be involved, in one way or the other,” to save journalism from an ongoing “market failure” that will only worsen without intervention, Waxman said. …

Waxman bemoaned the demise of newspapers across the country, including in Denver and Seattle, and warned that the troubling media trends will continue. “This recent depression in the media sector is not cyclical,” Waxman said. “It is structural.”

“Congress can’t impose a solution” to that structural problem, he said. But the government should partner with the media industry to ensure a sound future for journalism. Waxman praised the record of “independent” reporting in U.S. history and said it has implications for democracy.

“There needs to be a consensus within the media industry and the larger community it serves” before the government acts, Waxman said. “We have to figure out together how to preserve that kind of reporting.”

These are the extremist we have put in Washington, and America needs to wake the fuck up.

I don't care about democrat, republican, whatever, If you're OK with the government getting its slimy tentacles around the media, then you have a completely different idea of what America is supposed to be then me.

The very idea of this is beyond disgusting, yet given the way things have been going lately i can't say it's that big of a surprise.

 

[Tristam Green]

Hold on?

What the fuck is this, lol. The decline of the news industry has been multifaceted, not the direct effect from one singular cause, though. You can't band-aid that.

1.) The decline overall in newsprint from the paper industry.
2.) The rise of the Internet as a news outlet, which gains legitimacy daily.
3.) The rise of news outlets as political bureaus...not just FOX News, mind you.
4.) Public impressions of bias that have been going around since the early 1900s.

I love printed media. I really do. But until BigCorp gets its grips out of the press and stops pressing its own agendas, I don't see any way for the news industry to re-establish itself.

Waxman needs to get a Fucking Grip™.

 

[Thelona]

I don't see any way for the news industry to re-establish itself.

I do, they could cut the bullshit. the TV new agency's are politically biased and no one disputes it, theres bias for both sides, so some people would say its fine. But if the tv news industry wants to reestablish its credibility, it just needs to cut the bullshit. Doesn't take a government committee to figure that out.

As far as printed press declining and the internet taking off, i think that's just a natural progression and nothing is going to change that(and they shouldn't try).


Either way, the government stepping in is the last thing we need with the media. The media's biggest problem, is they are losing credibility, and the government getting in the mix is the one sure way of them losing every bit of credibility they have left.

 

[Zoolander]

Credibility has nothing to do with printed press going out of business...people just do not want to read newspapers anymore when they can just go online and get the news quicker, easier, and for free. If credibility mattered, online news would not be so popular and blogging would not be anywhere near the status it is today.

Media has been failing at its duty for sometime now, this is hardly new. It is directly at the fault of the American public, because we have placed more value on sensationalizing and analysis rather than straight up reporting of the news. Capitalism at its finest, we demand entertainment so we get entertainment.

The major problem with this is that media is one of the pillars of a successful democracy and (used to be) a major check against the Government trying to fool the public. You say you don't want the government to have any say in the media, I say there won't be any strict reporting of the news or any news media to save if we continue the trend of entertainment over information. You are also making the worst possible conclusions that any financial assistance means a government propaganda machine.

Edit: And you say the TV news companies should cut the bull shit? Why the fuck would they do that? Fox News and MSNBC are the two most garbage filled networks reporting the "news" in the U.S. and subsequently have the highest ratings. We reward them for doing everything but report the news.

 

[Tristam Green]

Media has been failing at its duty for sometime now, this is hardly new. It is directly at the fault of the American public, because we have placed more value on sensationalizing and analysis rather than straight up reporting of the news. Capitalism at its finest, we demand entertainment so we get entertainment.

Great call, and one of the points I missed wholly.

Who wants to hear about the plight of the average worker in Detroit, when Elin Nordegren (a marvel that we are actually able to spell her name!) bashed Tiger's Escalade's rear window out?

 

[Thelona]

Credibility has nothing to do with printed press going out of business...people just do not want to read newspapers anymore when they can just go online and get the news quicker, easier, and for free. If credibility mattered, online news would not be so popular and blogging would not be anywhere near the status it is today.

Media has been failing at its duty for sometime now, this is hardly new. It is directly at the fault of the American public, because we have placed more value on sensationalizing and analysis rather than straight up reporting of the news. Capitalism at its finest, we demand entertainment so we get entertainment.

The major problem with this is that media is one of the pillars of a successful democracy and (used to be) a major check against the Government trying to fool the public. You say you don't want the government to have any say in the media, I say there won't be any strict reporting of the news or any news media to save if we continue the trend of entertainment over information. You are also making the worst possible conclusions that any financial assistance means a government propaganda machine.

Edit: And you say the TV news companies should cut the bull shit? Why the fuck would they do that? Fox News and MSNBC are the two most garbage filled networks reporting the "news" in the U.S. and subsequently have the highest ratings. We reward them for doing everything but report the news.

That's because i don't believe for one second that "saving news media" is the intention of the politicians writing this stuff. I think your making the worst possible assumption that "finical assistance" is all they are going to do. The government has proved with the bailouts that "financial assistance" comes with plenty of strings attached.

I think the politicians intent in passing this, is about as close to "saving the media" as the intention of the people trying to shove threw the fairness doctrine is to "fairness". Its laughable.
call me cynical, but the last person i trust with my media is the government. i think a media that's free of government control is one of the most important things to a free society.

Also care to guess at which TV news networks are in the most trouble? here's a hint its the ones that get a thrill up their leg every time Obama speaks. It's the ones that see the hacked emails of the CRU and think that the biggest issue is "email theft". or choose not to report on it at all.

You say it's the peoples fault because we wanted entertainment and got it. then why are they in trouble. If they delivered to us what "we" wanted, then "we" would be watching it wouldn't we?

You say it'll keep going downhill and fail without the government assistance. I say that's what SHOULD happen should they not figure out why their ship is sinking before it sinks.
That's the free market. If they fail then there will be restructuring and someone else will take their place. Throwing government "assistance" at it is just going to refill the "bubble" with no real change of practice in its best case scenario, the worst case scenario very much worse.

Its almost like at one point, your trying to make the point that the government needs to step in to force them back to "news". if that's the point your trying to make then that falls back on the liberal idea that the government knows whats good for you better then you do. Being a conservative that's a belief that I'm directly at odds with.

You say you don't want the government to have any say in the media, I say there won't be any strict reporting of the news or any news media to save if we continue the trend of entertainment over information. You are also making the worst possible conclusions that any financial assistance means a government propaganda machine.

editing to address this point specifically sorry::
your whole point is that its gonna fail if the government doesn't step in and shift their focus from entertainment to facts. Thats the government dictating thier direction! are you really OK with this!?
the government dictating the direction of the media in ANY WAY is the kind of thing that makes a government cross the line into a tyranny. who the hell decides what "facts" are?

basically what do you believe to be ideal zoolander? the government STRICTLY providing financial assistance, basically just propping them up.
or finacial assitance AND apply pressure for a change in the focus of thier coverage?
both are wrong in my eyes but the second is WAY worse.

Sorry to rant but this is a hotbutton for me, and I'm wondering why is isn't for more people.

 

[Acutie]

I agree, let them fail and someone will come up with new and better ideas, that's called progress

 

[Dejavu]

I think everyone here knows what side of this issue ill be on... i love creative destruction (failure).

 

[Zoolander]

I agree, let them fail and someone will come up with new and better ideas, that's called progress

The new and better idea is already here, in the form of T.V. and the internet.

Thelona...I am not at all saying that the government should shift the focus of the media and dictate what they do, you are making too many assumptions about what I am saying and seem to conclude that I support this movement. I am simply elaborating the "why" in this situation. It is a bad situation and unfortunate that the news media has become this, but it is what the people want, even if they say they don't. Most people don't like the idea of newspapers going away, but they also don't do their part to change it. Money talks, and we don't want to pay for a newspaper anymore except for those few times we feel like picking one up.

My "position" on this is not that easy to pinpoint. I recognize that with our capitalist society, we have made it known through spending as a society that the internet movement is what we want and not newspapers and that they will die out if this trend continues. It isn't the end of the world, but it is a pretty bad situation to essentially lose a check on the government you are so fearful of. We are not so different on this issue, I just tend to see both sides of arguments and try to understand both. I am more just playing devil's advocate here since no one really was. I definitely don't want to lose a check on the government, but of course having the government have any control over a check on themselves isn't a good idea either, obviously.

In an ideal situation we wouldn't be here, people would support the newspapers through their dollars and media would actually report the news instead of the significant amount of analysis we now get.

 

[Firestreak]

Printed media is horrible for the environment. Why not let the form change. Of course, people are more interested in "bullshit" news than real news. That doesn't mean that real news doesn't have enough of a public to support it.