Fred Brown in the Denver Post writes about “Journalism on a Shoestring.”
I posted this comment:
Fred Brown, I've heard knowledgeable and experienced newspaper people like yourself complain that corporate owned newspapers such as the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News were forced to cut back on reporters and good coverage of local news while profits of their corporate owners increased.
Is it possible that the real problem with newspapers today is global capitalism, what Irving Crystal called "socialism in sheepskin."
We've got a great chance to find out here in Denver. Either or both of the papers need to be set free of their corporate master to operate as a free, independent business.
Where is the oversight of the Joint Operating Agreement the corporations entered into to preserve competition? Seems to me that under the terms of the JOA the debt that has been incurred by the corporations should go to the corporations, and that the debt not be allowed to be used to bury the competitor by the surviving paper.
Set the papers free: Sell the name, URL, and archives to entrepreneurs and/or a community group, for an example of how this is done, take a look at the community ownership of the Green Bay Packers.
The accumulated debt? The JOA should force the corporations to eat it as their just reward for the damage they have done to the papers and our community. The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post are dead! Long live the new Rocky Mountain News and the new Denver Post!
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