Obama appointee wants bailout for newspapers

While her call for a newspaper bailout came in her farewell column for the Los Angeles Times, the fact remains that a woman President Barack Obama has appointed to the Pentagon wants a federal bailout for the struggling industry. Rosa Brooks, now a Pentagon adviser, proposes using tax dollars and granting licenses as a way of stabilizing and preserving the newspaper industry.

Brooks' proposal is already coming under fire from critics with concerns about how such a plan might affect independent publications and from critics worried about how federal money might impact newspapers' power to hold the government accountable via reporting and editorials. This FOXNews.com report provides more details and thoughts on why this plan might be doomed.

We at Scooping the News agree with some critics who consider this current mess a problem that the newspaper industry brought upon itself by failing to enhance and improve its business model by fully embracing the Internet. Not only did the newspaper industry catch on about 10 years too late to the importance of the Internet, but now editors and publishers can't agree on a viable business plan for the future.

Two facts we know for certain: (1) Access fees will not save newspapers when there are too many free news sources available on the Web and people with blogs could simply repost the news from sites that charge; and (2) newspaper closings, layoffs and bankruptcies will continue until these publications realize they must cut their high fixed costs.