News You Can Endow

News You Can Endow

By DAVID SWENSEN and MICHAEL SCHMIDT
Published: January 27, 2009
New Haven

“THE basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in January 1787. “And were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”

Today, we are dangerously close to having a government without newspapers. American newspapers shoulder the burden of considerable indebtedness with little cash on hand, as their profit margins have diminished or disappeared. Readers turn increasingly to the Internet for information — even though the Internet has the potential to be, in the words of the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, “a cesspool” of false information. If Jefferson was right that a well-informed citizenry is the foundation of our democracy, then newspapers must be saved.

...By endowing our most valued sources of news we would free them from the strictures of an obsolete business model and offer them a permanent place in society, like that of America’s colleges and universities. Endowments would transform newspapers into unshakable fixtures of American life, with greater stability and enhanced independence that would allow them to serve the public good more effectively.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/opinion/28swensen.html?ref=opinion

i think there is some sense to this proposal.

Most newspapers have not done their job. They haven't reported the truth. They've been
in lockstep with Bushler. Look at how the NYTimes helped to spearhead the Bush disinformation
in the lead up to the Iraq war. Judy Miller, anyone?

If reporters and editors at newspapers were actually reporting the news, and not acting as the
PR arm of the White House--this article may have a valid point.

We're losing newspapers, and yes, that is sad--but the vast majority of them are corporate
kow towers.

It seems like this article is attempting to discredit the Internet and bloggers. The article
disparages the information on the Internet. Sure, there's some misinformation. However, the power
of people discussing, researching and speaking the truth far outweighs the tripe that is out there.

Maybe that's what the authors of this article are most afraid of.

“THE basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in January 1787. “And were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”

The Internet is the people, and for better or worse reflects their opinions as nothing else before it ever has. I have no doubt had the Internet existed during the latter part of the 18th century Thomas Jefferson would have enthusiastically supported and respected it instead of just opining to the Information Superhighway as a cesspool of disinformation without the least hint of irony in recognizing the cesspool of disinformation, the conglomerated corporate media has become and to some degree always was.

I haven't heard an apology to Al Gore and or to the American People from the corporate media to date for the travesty of the past decade and that was just one small but critical example of the corporate media's cesspool of disinformation at work.

Furthermore, I believe this endowment idea is more an attempt at maintaining out-sized oligarch/corporate influence and power by controlling the one way mass mega phone of the corporate media. The vast majority of endowments come from people with more than ample wealth and their influence would carry the day. The wealthy would get tax benefits from underwriting their opinions. One can only imagine which issues would be determined to be of public importance and which side the endowed newspapers would come down on.


"As educational and literary organizations devoted to the “promotion of social welfare,” endowed newspapers would benefit from Section 501(c)(3) of the I.R.S. code, which provides exemption from taxes on income and allows tax deductions for people who make contributions to eligible organizations.

One constraint on an endowed institution is the prohibition in the same law against trying to “influence legislation” or “participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.” While endowed newspapers would need to refrain from endorsing candidates for public office, they would still be free to participate forcefully in the debate over issues of public importance. The loss of endorsements seems minor in the context of the opinion-heavy Web."

Thanks for the thread, musette_sf.

Newspaper whose commercial paper is at near-junk status and which just got a loan at 14% interest complains that it's so important it can't be allowed to fail.

Not so large that it can't fail. But so politically important that it needs the government to step in and keep it going, so that it can properly report on said government and shape opinion. No government control, of course. Said newspaper's editorial policy is that bailouts of private enterprise should include government oversight, of course ... presumably excepting itself and other competitor print news sources.

I don't buy it. Newspapers are important in principle, but it's up to people to decide that the ones that exist are--or aren't--important in practice.