Media want a handout ~ By Joseph Farah

From WorldNetDaily

By Joseph Farah Posted: October 23, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 Increasingly rejected in the marketplace as irrelevant, media elitists want a government bailout to keep them in business. That's the long and the short of a manifesto on the subject by Leonard Downie, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, and Michael Shudson, a sociologist, in the Columbia Journalism Review this week. Not surprising, of course. The newspaper industry is in its death throes. But what's interesting about the Downie-Shudson report is the justification for taxpayer support for the news business. "News reporting that holds accountable those with power and influence has been a vital part of American democratic life. …" they write. "That journalism is now at risk, along with the advertising-supported economic foundation of newspapers. American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting news reporting – as society has, at much greater expense, for public education, health care, scientific advancement and cultural preservation, through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy." What's remarkable about this statement, besides its audacity, is the recognition by Downie-Shudson that American journalism actually has a vital role in American society – and it has to do with serving as a watchdog on powerful institutions. Of course, this is what I've been trying to tell my colleagues for many years. I've been writing and speaking on this subject and trying to persuade them that if they will only recognize the central role of a free press in a free society is to serve as a watchdog on government, increasingly the most powerful institution in our society, the American people would reward them directly with subscriptions and advertising revenue. The only alternative, of course, is to appeal to government to coerce money from the people. Sadly, that's the option Downie and Shudson have chosen. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]