It’s beginning…

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro sees saving the local newspaper as his duty. But others think he and his colleagues are setting a worrisome precedent for government involvement in the U.S. press.

Nicastro represents Connecticut’s 79th assembly district, which includes Bristol, a city of about 61,000 people outside Hartford, the state capital. Its paper, The Bristol Press, may fold within days, along with The Herald in nearby New Britain.

That is because publisher Journal Register, in danger of being crushed under hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, says it cannot afford to keep them open anymore.

Nicastro and fellow legislators want the papers to survive, and petitioned the state government to do something about it. “The media is a vitally important part of America,” he said, particularly local papers that cover news ignored by big papers and television and radio stations.

To some experts, that sounds like a bailout, a word that resurfaced this year after the U.S. government agreed to give hundreds of billions of dollars to the automobile and financial sectors.”

I told you this on The MacRanger Show, that is is a matter of time before the Ny Times, Washington Post and other news outlets try to convince congress that they “deserve” a piece of the rock. They are claiming that they are “essential” to a democracy therefore they should get bailed out.

It’s time to get outraged and contact your elected representatives to let them know that enough is enough. Otherwise get ready to take out your checkbook.

Ed. Morrissey notes:

“The only reason — the only reason — that news media is vital to a democracy is its independence from government. Think about this. Is The National Enquirer vital to democracy? Will the Republic fall if Entertainment Weekly suddenly closed its doors? Not at all, not even if the entire paparazzi industry suddenly collapsed.”