Bob McChesney and John Nichols came to speak at Northeastern in January about “The Death and Life of American Journalism,” as their new book is titled. McChesney and Nichol’s basic argument is that the media establishment in this country is in desperate need of greater public funding if journalism is to survive as a sophisticated, investigative and intelligent medium not solely beholden to corporate power. This article posted on their website arstechnica.com lays out the financial complications of doing so, while laying out a few strategies that have been used to effect in Europe and could possibly be adapted here.
My own opinion? We could do well to gain further subsidies for journalism through a gradual tax increase in certain areas. But more money does not necessarily equal more civic engagement. We must also be aware that the government has the potential to act as deadly as any corporation; money could easily be withdrawn from news organizations that are too critical of the current government, for instance. The common American wisdom is that government is bad and corporations are the life-blood of our economy. This article poses something different, in a fairly moderate position. Here is the link.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/should-uncle-sam-save-public-media-with-huge-cash-infusion.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
Please share your thoughts on government, media, money and all other related topics.