Democrats Want One Voice For Newspapers, But Talk Radio Needs To Be More Fair

While not necessarily pressing for an old-style "Fairness Doctrine" to force radio stations to stop carrying Rush, Democrats have been talking about mandating more "diversity" in station ownership. The general belief being that stations owned my women and minorities would be less likely to carry Rush by choice, which would, by liberal thinking, thus reduce his audience and influence. (Side note, if you want to reduce his influence, Mr. President and company, maybe you shouldn't keep talkng about him. Eh?)

But, now, according to this Reuters article, Democrats are considering easing anti-trust policy in order to save the newspaper industry.

This is, rather unsurprisingly, being urged by none other than Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D).

Per the article:

The industry is reeling from declining circulation, economic recession and a shift in advertising and reader attention to online media. Venerable newspapers have closed or -- such as the Hearst Corp's Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week -- gone to Internet-only editions with reduced staff.

They're also reeling from lack of reader trust.

And:

Pelosi, a Democrat whose California district is served by Hearst's The San Francisco Chronicle, urged Holder to take a broad view of newspaper competitors under antitrust law and include "electronic and digital" outlets.

What about talk radio? Can you include that too?

Snort-worthy comment of the day:

Newspaper defenders say online news outlets lack the resources and ambition of newspapers. "Our newspapers and news media must be able to engage in investigative journalism and to analyze significant issues, so citizens are informed of public policy issues and public officials are held accountable," Pelosi said in her letter to Holder.

Who broke Rather-gate? Who broke the credit card contribution fraud at Obama's campaign website? The Air America embezzlement scandal? And all those doctored images from the AP & Reuters? Oh yeah. Blogs.

So, a lot of radio stations, under one umbrella company, broadcasting Rush Limbaugh: bad.

But a lot of newspapers, all owned by, say, Geroge Soros perhaps: good.

Maybe we can get Rupert Murdoch to start buying newspapers.