Source:
Boston GlobeSenator John F. Kerry will hold hearings in Washington next week on the financial problems facing the newspaper industry, as dwindling advertising dollars push many US papers to the brink of closure.
The hearings by the Senate Commerce Committee, beginning April 30, are the latest effort in the nation's capital to help out newspapers. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, introduced a bill last month that would enable newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits.
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"America's newspapers are struggling to survive and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount," Kerry wrote in a letter sent to union leaders Friday. The union released the letter yesterday.
The increase in media conglomerates has resulted in an increase in agenda-driven reporting and over time, if those of us who value a diversity of opinion and ideas, and are unafraid to be confronted with pointed commentary and analysis, do not act, it is a situation which will only get worse," Kerry wrote. The senator has received political endorsements over the years from the Globe's editorial page, which is operated separately from its news-gathering operation.
Read more:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/20/us_senate_panel_to_look_at_future_of_newspapers/?comments=all&plckCurrentPage=2
To have a democracy, you need an informed populace, which means you need a free and diverse media. All of us here watched what happened when our media, for various reasons, backed George Bush's rush to war. But, in 2004, the print media was far less biased in Bush's favor than the broadcast media - which, talk radio to the contrary, it did not have a liberal bias. (All you need to ask yourself is whether the media of the past would have treated the disrespect shown to Kerry's Navy given purple hearts in the neutral way they did - as if they were 2004's novelty hats at the Republican convention.)
This shoud be a fascinating hearing.