Senator Tries to Rescue US Newspaper Industry

It's very well documented the historically devastating crisis the US newspaper industry is going through. Newspapers are dropping like flies throughout the United States, and the bleeding won't stop.

But there seems to be at least one US senator who thinks a solution could come from Washington to try and put an end to this "real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy."

Democratic Sen. Benjamin Cardin introduced legislation that would consider newspapers in the United States as non-profit operations, with all the tax breaks that that would entail for the struggling industry.

The Wall Street Journal:

Under the proposal, newspapers could operate as nonprofits, if they chose to do so, claiming 501(c)(3) status for educational purposes, similar to public broadcasting.

'It is in the interest of our nation and good governance that we ensure [that newspapers] survive.'

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to support coverage or operations could be tax-deductible.

Nonprofit-status newspapers would not be allowed to make political endorsements but would be allowed to freely report on all issues, including political campaigns.

In a statement, Cardin acknowledged that consumers now have many other sources for news but said the public relies on newspapers "for in-depth reporting that follows important issues, records events and exposes misdeeds. In fact, most if not all sources of journalistic information ... gather their news from newspaper reporters who cover the news on a daily basis ... It is in the interest of our nation and good governance that we ensure [that newspapers] survive."

The initiative would be able to protect local newspapers serving smaller cities and towns but not the large publishing houses that own several publications throughout the country.

The article goes on to say that up to 2000, US newspapers were able to turn profits of up to 30 percent because of their extremely attractive classified sections. But the Internet, with services like Craigslist and Monster.com, are now offering consumers nation-wide range for little or no money. Also, millions of former newspaper buyers have migrated to Internet editions, which are much less profitable.

Add to that the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the end result is a collapse of epic proportions.