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Freedom of the Press
By AltonEaston in A Constitutionalist & Believer in Natural Law
November 14, 2009

The US Constitution’s First Amendment states” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Many once popular newspapers are losing money and may close, L.A. Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, The New York Daily Press, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Detroit News, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Miami Herald, and others.

And the federal government has a “solution”.

“Newspaper Revitalization Act”, introduced by Democrat US Senator Ben Cardin, would grant failing newspapers to restructure under non-profit 501(c)(3) tax status typically reserved for educational entities, advertising and circulation revenue could be claimed as tax exempt, and newspapers would be barred from making political endorsements.

American citizens have seen the federal government taking a back-door management approach once they have helped a company or industry.

Will this be repeated? Will we have a national network of federal newspapers? Will the federal government control newpaper companies, decide which newspaper companies will survive or fail, control writers/reporters, surpress stories or control stories, control CEO’s, control wages and compenstation, and call it freedom of information?

Comments


  • Observer Observer Report a ViolationReport a Violation
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    The newspapers you mentioned are in the process of failing because their one-time subscribers have reached the point that they can no longer tolerate biased, liberally slanted propaganda masquerading as news. Ditto the big three television networks; as their coverage became more slanted, viewership fell off and continues to fall.

    As to 501(c)(3) tax status for failing newspapers, I can almost see B. Hussein and his fellow travelers salivating and licking their chops at the prospect. Were that to occur, something all of us should dread, I would predict that it would be less than six months, and probably no more than a month, before one of these "charitable" newspapers received a call from the White House suggesting how they should cover/not cover something. A press that is beholden to the politicians for its very existence, rather than protected from the politicians by the Constitution, is no longer free.

    November 15, 2009 at 2:05 p.m.

  • coolgranny coolgranny Report a ViolationReport a Violation
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    Your blogs always remind me of the knowledge I should have really learned instead of memorizing the night before a test. I really enjoy the fact that you always accept the challenges of your readers and back your blogs with the substance of your research. I get so weary of people who really challenge the concepts that developed this country into the great nation it is today. If the introduction of the "Newspaper Revitalization Act" doesn't scare people to death, then nothing is registering. The slanted stats we have already been given in the recent months are just the tip of a very dangerous iceberg. The average person really doesn't get the political ramifications of government control of information. Socialism sneaks in and then runs the business as they want. It isn't for the common good. It never has been. If government controls the newspapers, it will eliminate one more opposition that would lead to the absolute destruction of this nation. Sometimes, I feel like America has become the frog in the boiling pot.

    November 14, 2009 at 9:27 p.m.