Thursday, March 26, 2009

A newspaperman ponders economics

Alan Mutter, former editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, doesn't see the need to go along with Sen. Benjamin Cardin's (D-MD) plan to convert newspapers to non-profit status:
"While it was a nice gesture for the Democrat from Maryland to suggest a Newspaper Revitalization Act to enable non-profit ownership, he might as well try to repeal the laws of economics or gravity, instead. Regardless of whether a paper is owned by a non-profit organization or an unreconstructed capitalist, it has to take in more money than it spends – or it will perish. The form of ownership doesn’t change this fundamental truth."

Okay. Now that we have established that, can we somehow get past this silly idea that newspapers are the very glue holding our free society together?

Maybe then we can have a serious discussion about ending the practice of forcing taxpayers in Kentucky to fund newspapers here.