Director's Notes: Government help?

• Bailing Out. Government has always subsidized the press in this country. A Columbia Journalism Review editorial reminds us that the process started with 1792 legislation that established below-cost mail rates for newspapers. With the near collapse of the traditional advertising-supported media model, an increasing number of news producers now are looking for an Uncle Whisers-funded stimulus plan they can call their own. The fires were stoked after President Obama's recent offhand remark that he would be "happy to look" at congressional proposals to boost the fortunes of ailing publishers. CJR concluded that "if we don't get beyond the rational but outdated fear of government help for accountability journalism---if we just let the market sort it out---this vital public good will continue to decline.
• Necessary? David Westphal and Geoffrey Cowan of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism take a pragmatic and innovative look at public subsidies for news organizations, as reported in the CBC article "Government cash for the US media business? It's already there but shrinking fast." Their recent paper on government assistance for the news media poses perhaps the key question in the debate: Is a new form of government intervention prudent and necessary to ensure that Americans have access to the kind of information they need in a democracy?