The U.S. newspaper industry is in the proverbial perfect storm of strong declines in advertising support, fragmentation of media and audience, and a high relative cost structure hampered by older forms of production and distribution.
In today's Washington Post, two noted media lawyers (lobbyists are likely a suitable term) argue for several laws they say would save journalism. They amount to extraordinary measures.
Among them:
1. Elimination of ownership restrictions and anti-trust measures.
2. Tightening of copyright to prevent full pages from appearing in search engine results and extensive use of material in other media.
3. Tax policies to promote the financial viability of the press.
These ideas are rearguard --- some would say retrograde --- but suggest the debate in the U.S. has reached a point in which a sense of extreme is sought as a remedy. Only a year ago these notions would have been unthinkable as a package.
