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U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers

American

American

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Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:05pm EDT
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.
"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin.
A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.
Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.
Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.
Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.
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Looks like the Democrats are trying to save their precious NYT! It's unprecedented.....savings newspapers. Now the govt will control them too?

I hope you liberals out there are proud of the socialism you're introducing to the United States of America.
 
I like reading my local paper, call me nostalgic.

I think the rags demise are on the horizon, they're a dying breed because of the 24/7 news availability that television and the internet provide.

I think they should start planning now for the future and start expanding into new mediums. The government has no place intervening on their behalf, it's wasted money trying to prop up a dying industry.
 
GottaHurt said:
I like reading my local paper, call me nostalgic.

I think the rags demise are on the horizon, they're a dying breed because of the 24/7 news availability that television and the internet provide.

I think they should start planning now for the future and start expanding into new mediums. The government has no place intervening on their behalf, it's wasted money trying to prop up a dying industry.
Click to expand...

A few have already planned to go straight to internet news.

I can't remember them specifically though.
 
At second look, this isn't as ridiculous as it might seem. Big papers aren't going to be doing this, so it will mostly be smaller local papers. What's the problem with a community paper being organized as a nonprofit?
 
American said:
Link



Looks like the Democrats are trying to save their precious NYT! It's unprecedented.....savings newspapers. Now the govt will control them too?

I hope you liberals out there are proud of the socialism you're introducing to the United States of America.
Click to expand...

The government already has some degree of control over the news via its corporate lobbying sector. Only a few executives in all of America own the biggest news corporations, and they have their hands in government. It's all interconnected.
 
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