I have doubts about this approach. I certainly respect the value of good journalism but I fear that this would, in some cases, subsidize people who simply refused to adapt and would also cause government interference with journalist. Still, all points of view should be considered when discussing what to do when news organizations are failing (financially) en masse. As the header of this blog suggests I certainly would not want to subsidize people so they could tell us about Tiger Woods sex life and organizations like Fox News and CNN can make no claim to being news organizations anymore. CNN is only entertainment now and Fox is a right wing propaganda channel – neither of them can make any claim to Journalism.
Robert W. McChesney teaches in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. John Nichols is the Washington correspondent for The Nation and the associate editor of the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin.
They’re the co-founders, with Josh Silver, of the media reform group Free Press, and McChesney and Nichols have written several books together, none better or more urgent than their latest one, entitled “The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again.”