FTC solves all other problems, decides to fix news

By at 8:38 am Tuesday, Dec 1

Dan Gillmor sez,
As everyone knows, the nation's scam artists, monopolists and market-riggers have all gone into hibernation during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This has given the Federal Trade Commission the breathing room it needs to intercede in an arena where its role is, at best, unclear.

This week, the commission is holding a two-day workshop entitled How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? -- the purpose of which is 'to explore how the Internet has affected journalism.'

The commission has discovered that the advertising model which once supported many kinds of journalism has eroded. Quoting several economists, the workshop notice says 'public affairs reporting may indeed be particularly subject to market failure.'

Market failure? What about the market failure -- which as far as I can tell never got any attention from a succession of FTC people during the past half-century -- of the monopolies and oligopolies created by media organizations during that period? The public affairs journalism was, for the most part, a modest spinoff of the extortionate advertising prices they charged when they had near-absolute market power to charge anything they wished. Only when there's real competition does the FTC get interested.

FTC's Shallow Dive into Journalism's Future (Thanks, Dan!)

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