Connecticut Government Bails Out Newspapers
from the will-it-impact-coverage? dept
A few readers have sent in the news that Connecticut lawmakers have stepped in to save two newspapers in the state, that were about to be shut down. This is raising all sorts of questions about the separation of government from the press. What's scary is that just a few years ago, such an idea was used as satire. Then it became a serious suggestion and now it's happening. Of course, the big question is about how this will impact coverage. It is possible for the government to own a newspaper and still have that newspaper report critically on that government... but it's definitely harder, and a lot of people may wonder about how closely the papers will monitor government officials.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: bailout, connecticut, government, newspapers
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Heh.
(Google is your friend.)
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Banks
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Change
Change from capitalism to socialism.
Change from freedom to equality.
Change from gov watchdog to obedient pet.
I "hope" everyone's happy!
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Re: Change
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Re: Re: Change
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Re: Re: Change
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Re: Re: Re: Change
Do you have any idea what the definition of socialism is ?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Change
Barak Obama
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Re: Re: Change
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government newspaper
Freedom of the press is a constitutional right as with religion. Government must not have any pull one way or the other with either.
It is better to let the newspapers close than have a propaganda tool at their disposal.
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If only!
That's ok though, at least we will still have newspapers in Connecticut. Considering that no one under the age of thirty relies on newspapers for information points to why this bailout is so important...
Really, I almost want to start a failing business model just so I can get bailed out. Seems to be the new way of doing business in the United Corporations of America.
One nation under fascism with credit and bailouts for all!
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Hypocrisy
Then we go with the free market solution for a single large institution, Lehman, and its failure triggers a massive global meltdown. The free market is a powerful thing.
And the had-been survival of the fittest jokes beg for money. They beg the government to save them, please, they are too big to fail. It is the champions of free-market uber succes who led us to whatever comes next.
Classical economics is like classical music, old. It is old men who want to be the richest and hold on to power til they die. So they insured their sick socio-pathetic livelihoods of self-righteousness and gross overindulgence, by holding the fate of the world hostage, ha.
Stop talking ideologies, fundamentalism is for the birds. Who ever said freedom meant being able to own 5 houses, planes, billions? A gay couple cannot marry, while all the Bernie MAdoff's and corporate titans demand their right to borrow 100x what they possess and bet it on garbage they invented. Land of the free.
Nobody reads newspapers anyway, who cares what they say?
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Re: Hypocrisy
Hardly free-market.
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Re: Hypocrisy
It's not the free market capitalists who are trying to prevent companies from failing.
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Class Warfare
socialized debt
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Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR
Maybe we can have Bill Ayers as the Editor-In-Chief?
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Can You Spell CCCP?
A Republican President may have started it, but it was approved by a Democratic controlled Congress and it's going to be made more prevalent by the new Messiah - er, President.
In Connecticut they're all Communists anyway.
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Re: Can You Spell CCCP?
film at eleven
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CT Gov't bails out failing newspapers
We are not a FREE society. The PEOPLE have to wake up and take our Government back. Sign petitions and send them to your Legislators; they won't respond effectively so keep harassing them on a Public Forum. Start up rallies; Picket your Legislative Building. If we want CHANGE, we as a society have to fight for it and stop expecting State Government to look after the public's best interests vs their own.
There will be a rally at the Capitol in Hartford, CT on February 7th; 1pm; be there!
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BBC?
By most definitions the government "owns" the BBC in Britain, since the BBC is funded via a hypothecated tax on all British TV owners that the BBC has to renegotiate with the government every ten years. It's impossible to say, of course, whether BBC news would be even more critical of the government under some hypothetically different funding arrangement but under the current arrangement it's pretty far from being a mere pro-government shill.
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Won't they still go under????
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I can't afford my can on a string, either.
Obviously, I'm asking why bail out/preserve dying forms of communication.
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hi
No matters if the market has to face the failures. It is the part of the business.
joe
FSBO
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Hi,
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about
seibert
mls
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