John Kerry to hold hearings on newspaper industry -- there goes "freedom of the press"

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

I don't care who you are, the government getting involved with the press is NO BUENO!!! There has been a lot of talk in Congress, including action by Maryland Democrat Benjamin Cardin, to offer a bailout, known as the "Newspaper Revitalization Act of 2009" for the newspaper industry. Can you image newspapers being given taxpayer money to survive on when they back things the majority of taxpayers don't agree with? And now it's going one step further with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) introducing hearings on the state of the newspaper industry. As if we need to waste our taxmoney on this type of hearing. Here's the story from The Boston Globe (yes, this is Kerry's hometown newspaper... these people are disgusting ... click here.

You wanna talk about Change we can believe in? Let's think about this for a minute. The advent of the internet, with its ability to produce on-the-spot news and information is the information revolution of the ages. Much like the telegraph of the late 1800s, which sent information across wires and across the country for the first time, was a revolution in information, the World Wide Web produces blogs, Web-based news with instantaneous interaction by the reader and lightning connection between two people half a world away. Even this blog, in a newspaper, would first be vetted by the paper to see if they would print it. And even if the gatekeeper of the paper decided it would run, it wouldn't run until their choosing.

The Web gives every person their say and an outlet for their ideas and opinions. If anything, the Web makes the idea of a true democracy that much more closer. The newspaper, like the carrier pigeon before it, will die out. As technology progresses, the old and defunct goes away (newspapers) so the new and timely can replace it (the internet). The problem is that some papers, especially with their political leanings, are entrenched with the powerful, including politicians. This is not the watchdog media we need to look after government. You know what I say? LET THEM DIE. It's a shame the Rocky Mountain News died, it really is, but it's just reality setting in. If you can't give the people what they want (timely, up to the minute news and information) then you are doomed for death. The Colorado Springs Gazette here remains pretty robust on the ole' circulation. But why? This region, mainly, is dominated by retires, especially military retires. They like hard copy newspaper... but today's plugged in Americans rarely crack one open. Why? Because they have probably already read the information hours before!

I have one paper subscription ... the Wall Street Journal. I like to invest and day trade and the Journal has a ton of useful information, some of which can't be found on the Web site.

Be on the lookout folks... the powers at be, including Pelosi, may push to have their hometown newspapers bailed out. Are you ready to stand up to them?

UPDATE: The Washington Times reports ... click here