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Bailout For Newspapers? Just Kidding

Unlike with banks, the collapse of American newspapers does not endanger the world's financial system. But no matter, according to this tongue-in-cheek analysis. Maybe newspapers should go after bailout money as "a proactive move to save the only industry prominently mentioned in the Bill of Rights."

Newspapers should embrace a new mission of "preserving educational voices," and ask the government for debt relief and subsidies for digitization. "Think of the license fee British households pay to the BBC. The government could subsidize Amazon's Kindle or similar digital device and mandate that each household purchase one for $50." If nothing else, papers should seek tax credits and offer tax-deductible subscriptions.

Would it work? Barack Obama's civic-minded staffers, "may not love reporters, but they won't want newspapers to go away." It would mean a medium not dominated by "Fox News and bloggers banging on spittle-flecked laptops."

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