Obama Appointee Rosa Brooks advocating government licensing of news operations

[bludex]

What would this mean for free speech on the internet? You will only be able to speak if you're explicitly allowed to?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...paper-bailout/

Obama Appointee Suggests Radical Plan for Newspaper Bailout

Rosa Brooks, who has moved from the L.A. Times to the Pentagon, called for more "direct government support for public media" and government licensing of the news, which critics say would destroy the independent media.

FOXNews.com

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Influential Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks has hung up her journalistic hat and joined the Obama administration, but not before penning a public proposal calling for some radical ideas to help bail out the failing news industry.

Brooks, who has taken up a post as an adviser at the Pentagon, advocated upping "direct government support for public media" and creating licenses to govern news operations.

[]

"The day that the government gets involved in the news media you see the end of the democratic process, because an independent news media is absolutely essential to the success of a democracy," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group.

Bozell said licensing journalists would violate American traditions and was a form of "intellectual prostitution."

"Since when did our Founding Fathers envision that ... you could exercise your right to freedom of speech provided you had a license from the federal government? This is the kind of stuff you have revolutions about," he told FOXNews.com.

[]

[Gerry]

Nothing is going to save the newspapers.

That would be like the government trying to save morse code because newer technology replaced it.

At the same time, allow me to also say that just because some noted journalist calls for it is not going to make a bailout happen.

The news industry is NOT failing.

It is evolving.

Just like people here do not want to admit that the mobile internet and wireless connectivity will overtake PC usage.

Saying it won't happen won't stop it.

[tas38]

( independent media )

There is no longer any such beast, they are all run by the people paying their bills.

[HarveyJ]

Plenty of things would save newspapers if they weren't so adamant and stupidly insistent on clinging to print because of the advertising money... which is just moronic in the first place.

Honestly, you send people a device like the Kindle, make it download the news every morning if people's subscription is up to date. You give it some extra content here and there.
Not only are you now able to print an unlimited amount of news, you can also put in audio tracks, or even video once the bandwidth and screen tech get that good (remember, you want a lightweight, low powered device).
Using a device like the Kindle also means it still feels like a book, even if it's not quite the broadsheet / tabloid that people are used to.
Now, considering you have subscription details from each of the devices, those devices can start to build a profile on people based on waht they read, and serve ads that are more specifically targeted to their interests, thus making more money.

All of a sudden you've got more content, specifically what people want, and that includes ads that they actually are interested in seeing.
People will pay a subscription fee for a service like that if it's a quality service.

Damn, I've been reading the newspaper on my PDA for the last 6 years now, and I wouldn't mind paying an annual subscription of around $100-$150 for quality news that had come from a reputable source, has been properly edited and gone through an arbiter.
I already do for Crikey, after all.

[Donald Aquilano]

The news industry is NOT failing.

It is evolving.

DOC the news industry is failing. Many newspapers are going under because of their bias reporting and Americans are sick of it. They don't report the news anymore they try to interpret it for you.

[south]

( independent media )

There is no longer any such beast, they are all run by the people paying their bills.

Correct.

[cursal]

When one form goes down another comes up.

Anybody been following this independent media outlet:

http://therealnews.com/t/

Seems they take a global perspective. Like news in this century should.

U.S. media has long gone downhill. 30 mins of commercial filled public broadcast news.. HA! I learn more in that 30 mins about hard-on pills and going to the bathroom by route of chem-companies than I get from abc,nbc,cbs news...and when they do speak it's out of one side of their mouth. All scripts..blah balh.

Jim on OPB is pretty close to getting independent, but we all see those oil company and bank commercials, um I mean sponsors, on there.

[Gerry]

I read a recent article that says coupled with a decline in readership and the economy that 80% of dailys will be gone in 18 months.

While many feel that this is an exaggeration, it certainly caused the newsmedia to take note.

But it is being felt by all print media. Many are cutting out editions. It was either PCworld or ComputerWorld who stopped printing it's Australian edition last fall.

[fab]

Why read newspapers when it's all free over the net.