Comments on: Let’s put the government in charge of journalism!

By: timwindsor

timwindsor — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:15:19 +0000

Approve

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Tim Windsor
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By: David Sasaki

David Sasaki — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:33:09 +0000

Hi Tim, thanks for continuing the conversation. First, let me clarify, as I did on Kirk's blog, that I was being tongue in cheek when suggesting a 'government bailout' of the journalism industry. I am certainly not advocating for a one-time dump of money in order to fix what is clearly a broken system. But I do think that, unless private philanthropy steps in big, we're eventually going to want federal money to fund the sort of news and information (international coverage, for example) that had previously been subsidized by the revenue generated from classified ads and advertising.

I completely agree with the ideal of tearing down the unnecessary marketplace between writer and reader. I also support ideas like Spot.us, but crowdfunding of news (if it works) carries its own risks. After all, those who are most likely to fund a story about, say, the safety of San Francisco's water, will probably have a biased interest in how the story is reported. (Also, that was one of the very first stories to get pitched on Spot.us, even before it went public, and it has yet to attract enough money to be reported.

Nor has the tip jar model worked. And my friends who write for Slate.com - hardly the beacon of serious journalism - are sometimes paid only $100 a week.

My colleague Ethan Zuckerman has done a good job listing all the possible funding models for what he calls "difficult journalism" - those stories we know we should read, but sometimes have to convince ourselves to invest the time to do so.

I, too, think it's OK if the empire of journalism collapses, but meanwhile there are really cool projects taking shape (like the ones I mentioned, but also the one I work on, Global Voices) which should be made sustainable because they offer an important public service. Sort of like scientific research, highways, mailmen, and lifeguards.

By: Gus

Gus — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:07:26 +0000

readers grumble over a nickle increase. imagine how PO'ed they'd be about their taxes supporting the news biz!

By: tgd

tgd — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:21:27 +0000

“Congressman, I'd like to ask you about your six secretaries who can't type, giggle incessantly, show up at the office only on payday, and all seem to have been frequent clients of Dr. Ralph's House of Silicone.”

“Oh, and by the way – thanks for voting to reup the funding for the Corporation for Public Journalism!”

Our relationship with the government should be very straightforward: Politely adversarial.

By: Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs

Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:24:51 +0000

[...] company profits to fund a $3-billion a year fund to support journalism. Tim Windsor, in his post Let’s put the government in charge of journalism!, makes the persuasive argument that this is a very bad idea. You should take the time to read both. [...]

By: Dan Thanh

Dan Thanh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:56:17 +0000

Great post, Tim. The big issue I've had with bailing out all these businesses is that it doesn't teach them anything moving forward. It doesn't make anyone take responsibility for their actions. It doesn't force anyone to try something new or make hard decisions. It doesn't force people to find a real way to fix anything because the temporary band-aid is easier. We don't need more government interference. We need less. This is especially true for journalism and newspapers. We are supposed to be government watchdogs. We shouldn't be in bed with the government relying on the next hand out. Things are bad now, but it can always get worse.