The sadly obligatory newspaper bailout update

The president said he is "happy to look at" bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses.

"I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them," Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade in an interview.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced S. 673, the so-called "Newspaper Revitalization Act," that would give outlets tax deals if they were to restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations. That bill has so far attracted one cosponsor, Cardin's Maryland colleague Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D).

"I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," he said.

Because CBS News and the New York Times remain such credible outlets when they are not falsely intimating adultery rumors or just flat-out making up shit… or completely ignoring legitimate news stories altogether.

And isn’t it comforting to know that the Commander-in-Chief has set himself up as the arbiter of 1st amendment and political discourse? If he can fire the CEOs of private industry and nationalize a large portion of the domestic auto industry as well as pursuing nationalizing the heathcare industry then that is exactly what you would expect him to say.

We suggest a simple letter to the editor of whatever newspaper to which you may subscribe: "Dear Mr. Editor, if you re-organize in order to receive any tax break from the federal government or otherwise accept any federal largesse, I will cancel my subscription that very moment."

H/T: Hot Air