With the newspaper industry facing financial collapse, the U.S. Senate is debating whether the government can intervene without tainting the objectivity of the Fourth Estate.

Inspired by the financial woes of the Tribune Company’s Baltimore Sun, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act, an act that would grant newspapers nonprofit benefits, in March.

The bill is an attempt to work within the free market on a local level without a direct government- funded bailout, according to Sue Walitsky, spokesperson for Cardin’s national office.

“Newspapers already accept money from local businesses in the form of advertising, so nonprofit contributions would give them the chance to continue investigative journalism on a local level,” said Walitsky. “The focus is not to save the actual printed word but the local news groups. Their on the ground coverage cannot be replaced by national news organizations.”

One supporter of this bill, Newspaper Guild president Bernard Lunzer, believes that the government has a responsibility to help guide the press into the Digital Age.

“I have nothing but praise for the smaller boutique news operations and Web startups,” said Lunzer. “But there is something about the size of a newsroom that has critical mass, that can do so much more with editorial review, whether it’s on paper or not.”

Both Lunzer and Walitsky said the government would have to examine multiple solutions to this industry-wide problem.

“Since the USA would have a hard time selling direct taxing to create funding for (the BBC) model, (the Newspaper Guild) looks for incremental change solutions like tax credits,” said Lunzer on the possibility of imitating Great Britain’s publicly funded news organization. “One idea I like is tax credits for companies who hire journalists as an incentive to keep writers working. The falloff in the amount of people working in foreign bureaus is very concerning.”

Another concerned politician, former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wants to expand this debate about how the government can help journalism survive. Kerry held a hearing in May of his Senate commerce subcommittee about the future of journalism, where he called newspapers an “endangered species”.

“The words of Joseph Pulitzer are still true – our Republic and its press will rise or fall together,” said Kerry on May 6. “This new kind of press, this new media is going to require a new economic model, one that everyone is still trying to figure out.”

A staffer for Kerry’s office said that while the debate for the best options will continue, Cardin’s bill would fall under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, which is currently busy with health care reform.

Some critics say there should be no government intervention at all, such as News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, who said his company would refuse federal aid.
Pointing to government bailouts of companies, Murdoch said that newspapers must work within the free market if they’re going to evolve into a better business model.

Lunzer, on the other hand, believes journalism is too big to fail under pure free market conditions.

“I’d rather we find a way to create some incubators to allow it to transition than to let it collapse,” said Lunzer. “I think that the short term solution will have something to do with tax credits, which is why we’re supporting Cardin’s bill. This meltdown is starting to develop in broadcast too. The pressure is going to be across the whole media landscape.”

Opposing the criticism that any government funding would mean “creative destruction,” Lunzer is not opposed to government money stimulating journalism if can be done in a way that would not allow politicians to exert influence over journalists.

“I don’t want government to pick the winners or the losers, and the news groups we represent don’t want that, either,” said Lunzer. “That’s not to say that over time we wouldn’t end up in a new place because of it, but we can’t afford to go into an information dark ages, with bare bones sports and entertainment news. David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire,’ said it best when he referred to the Baltimore Sun: it’s a great time to be a corrupt politician over the next 10 years, because nobody will be around to cover you.”

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