• Slate, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 9:50 PM

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., early this year introduced a bill that would allow newspapers to reorganize themselves as nonprofits. But the last thing newspapers need is the sort of help from the government that turns them into NPR, "endlessly begging for contributions, pursuing wealthy philanthropists, and standing in line for government handouts," says Slate.

A previous round of government intervention damaged the newspaper business in the cities where the feds approved joint operating agreements, which have basically failed. The government's attempt to prop up newspapers with rewrites of the tax code or Sarkozy-esque direct subsidies of government advertising and free subscriptions for young people are misdirected. They only interfere with the already-in-progress transition from print to digital news delivery.

Propping up troubled papers weakens the enterprises that are rising from below to compete with them to deliver advertising and deliver news. "There's no better way to hinder the rise of such Web sensations as Politico and Talking Points Memo" than rewriting the rules to benefit traditional newspapers, Slate concludes.

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