Newspaper Bailouts?

Photo of The Boston Globe headquarters courtesy of The Atlantic.

This isn't necessarily a sports related post, but rather a topic that affects sports media. Political website TheHill.com posted an article Sunday afternoon saying President Obama is "open" and "happy to look at" a bill that would effectively bailout the newspaper industry. The bill, S. 673 "Newspaper Revitalization Act", was introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, also a Maryland Democrat. The bill would give tax breaks to news organizations that restructure as nonprofits.

It's no surprise newspapers are struggling. Denver's Rocky Mountain News folded in February, Seattle's Post-Intelligencer moved exclusively to online format in March, and the Philadelphia Daily News merged with the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year. The Boston Globe nearly folded in May, but was saved by union worker concessions. In addition to declining ad revenue, some would say newspapers in most major cities are too politically slanted one way or another to be a reliable news source.

So what would being a nonprofit do to newspapers, and more specifically, sportswriters at the newspapers? First, I think it would make travel hard for reporters. For example, the lead political reporter for the Miami Herald has to go to Denver for a political party's convention while the Marlins beat writer has to go to Milwaukee for a three-game baseball series. The political reporter would win, leaving sports fans in Miami out in the cold. In other words, where would the now-nonprofit companies get the money to pay for expenses like reporter travel, maintenance for the printing machines, and the like? Foundation grants? Taxpayers?

But the person that would most be affected by this proposed bill is the sports fan. City politics can be covered by the local broadcast news in a way sports cannot. By the time the sports segment of the late local news comes on, the majority of the audience has been lost, whereas political news would be at the top of the newscast. The newspaper beat writers that follow the local sports teams are te best place to go for in-depth analysis for the team, not the broadcast news. For example, the Boston Globe employs three writers to exclusively follow the Red Sox. Likewise, the Los Angeles Times employs Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky to exclusively write on the Lakers. Would these organizations be able to have this setup for fans? Would these writers even have a job?

All these questions plus the thought of yet another bailout lead to more questions than answers for an industry that is built on getting answers. To read the original article at TheHill.com, go here.