Larry Magid Calls For News Tax To Fund Failing Newspapers
from the uh,-why? dept
I usually find Larry Magid's columns pretty reasonable, so I'm a bit surprised to see him calling for a special "news tax" to fund failing newspapers. Most of the column is a decent enough explanation of how the newspapers are losing subscribers and are having trouble making as much money as they used to. He even notes (as so few in this debate do) that subscriber revenue to newspapers has never really been about funding the news operations, and has always been a very small piece of the revenue puzzle. And he suggests, as we have many times, that it's quite unlikely that a paywall solution will work.But, right towards the end, he writes the following:
Maybe we need to find another model? I realize there would be a lot of objections to using tax money to finance journalism, but I wonder if we should take a look at the British model that finances the BBC's TV, radio and online programming with a $237 tax on whatever device you use to watch TV, be it a computer, personal video recorder, mobile phone or TV set. In Britain, according to the British government's TV licensing Web site, "watching TV without a valid license is a criminal offence."Magid is, certainly, not the first person to call for government funding of newspapers, but he does little to actually explore the idea -- such as looking at the recent report talking about how as more government money goes to funding newspaper activities, the coverage of gov't corruption drops. On top of that, there are serious practical issues here. The BBC setup, involves funding a single national operation, not many different newspapers (which is what the rest of Magid's piece is about). It seems odd that he would effectively be suggesting that we wipe out local newspapers in favor of a gov't funded national news organization.
I'm quite sure that criminalizing unlicensed Web surfing or TV viewing would be even more unpopular with Americans than mandatory health insurance. But unless media companies can find another way to stay in business, we may very well see some serious proposals along these lines.
And, of course, there are all sorts of questions about whether or not this is even needed. Certainly, many newspapers are struggling, though in many cases it's not due to trouble funding operations, but due to the massive debt loads they took on a few years back when management stupidly thought that they were invincible to market changes. At the same time, we're seeing new and innovative startups hiring journalists and doing good work. Shouldn't we let the system work itself out before we suddenly decide to have the government intervene?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: news tax
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
USA is a socialist country; socialist for corporations. 90% of the Fortune 500 have received government subsidies. The pentagon is a subsidy for high-tech and the military is a subsidy for weapons manufacturers. Your grandchildren will be paying for the bailout to financial institutions who bet that poor people could repay $500,000 mortgages.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Bullshit.
Until you realize that corporations don't pay taxes, the last person to buy a service or a product does, you'll be angry for all the wrong reasons. Raise taxes on a provider of goods/services? The end user will pay more. EVERY TIME.
Don't believe me? Stop considering taxes some strange separate stand alone cost to companies. Consider it part of it's standard operating costs, like raw materials, labor, etc. And then it will all start becoming clearer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: BBC
Having said that it doesn't mean that Larry's argument holds any water. The BBC is pretty much a unique organisation in the world, with a specific history that just didn't happen anywhere else (Lord Reith being one unique factor). You can't create that history and organisational culture overnight somewhere else.
To take a garbled copy of the funding model (which has some careful checks and balances to keep direct government influence at bay but without allowing the BBC itself to simply set its own licence fee) and use it to subsidize failing commercial organsiations is even less likely to work.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: BBC
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
NO
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Note to Larry, TAXES ARE NOT BUSINESS MODELS!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why is tax always the answer?
Remember, that government that is big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why is tax always the answer?
I would like to add a challenge to this response. I challenge someone to show me a government run operation that is quality driven, customer focused, and isn't constantly plauged with budget problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Why is tax always the answer?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seriously...
Welcome to Pravda.US
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A government funded news source can be valuable
The value lies in having a news source that isn't beholden to *advertisers* for its ongoing operations, and hence is in a position to investigate corporate issues that the commercial newspapers may be reluctant to bring up for fear of jeopardising major sources of advertising revenue.
So if the commercial news sources can get stuck into the government, and the government funded news source can get stuck into the corporations, there's an outside chance major issues in both areas will at least be picked up and covered by *somebody* (even with the rise of the internet, an awful lot of information is still conveyed through the mainstream news networks).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Other do it
For the US, a country that hates any for of socialist idea and the absolute free business model (unless the business is to big to fail), the government subsided news might come across as to socialist.
The government supported media is not entirely bad as long as it servers a point and is not in direct competition with profitable commercial media sources. The BBC and CBC strongly support local TV series and try to do things that are in the best interest for their clients (the tax payers) even if it means it is not immediately or ever profitable - but needs and should be done by someone.
BTW: I grew up on CBC and one other channel. Still love the CBC and some of the very original programming and a non-USA view of the world (especially with respect to NEWS).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
True, some tax money does go into that system, but it's a small percentage of their total revenue. All tax money flowing into PBS/NPR accounts for 17% of their income. 10% from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 7% from all other government sources (National Endowment for Arts, National Endowment for Humanities, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, state governments.)
29% of their income comes from fees they charge to member TV stations (and the vast majority of that money comes from viewer contributions & donations from businesses), and 22% comes from corporations. Here's a convenient chart: http://www.current.org/pbs/pbs0407funding.shtml
It's not really an 800lb gorilla. More like a 136lb gorilla.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Please more taxes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Please more taxes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Please more taxes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Please more taxes
I don't mind begging! There's something romantic abut it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Please more taxes
Oh, its getting into winter here in the US - have fun begging in the cold. Maybe someone will give you some warm clothes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
news tax - spin tax?
I'd be pissed if I had to pay taxes for the likes of Faux News, the racist anti-immigration attacks by former CNN host Lou Dobbs, etc.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Digital Pennies / Print Dollars
Media folks take it on faith that if they buy a print ad in a paper, the thousands of people claimed as circulation MUST have seen the ad. An online ad, as we all know, is actually measurable.
At some point, advertisers, buyers, publishers, and the whole shebang will have to blink. It'll be bloody, but necessary.
But getting the government involved is most certainly not the answer. Perhaps someone might remind Larry that the country was actually founded on the concept of a free and independent press.
To crib from Thomas Jefferson, "If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
much ado
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My article on funding news
[ link to this | view in chronology ]