A Newspaper Columnist Who Gets It

by Jim Harper on April 6, 2009 · Comments

On the problems with the newspaper industry, Michael Kinsley writes in the Washington Post:

You may love the morning ritual of the paper and coffee, as I do, but do you seriously think that this deserves a subsidy? Sorry, but people who have grown up around computers find reading the news on paper just as annoying as you find reading it on a screen. (All that ink on your hands and clothes.) If your concern is grander – that if we don’t save traditional newspapers we will lose information vital to democracy – you are saying that people should get this information whether or not they want it. That’s an unattractive argument: shoving information down people’s throats in the name of democracy.

I rarely say it, but the whole thing is worth reading.

Comments Posted in: Advertising & Marketing, Antitrust & Competition Policy, Copyright, Media Regulation, Technology, Business & Cool Toys

  • LauraN
    I think many lawmakers are less concerned with subsidizing the ritual, and more concerned with subsidizing the viewpoint. To me that is the main problem because it is akin to saying that certain viewpoints are more valuable.
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