All the news that fits

MANIFESTO

It looks like Newsday is about to join News Corps's empire, and I can understand why it's not as big an issue as it might be.

When News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch recently voiced concerns about not being able to nab Newsday, he was talking about federal regulators' raising possible antitrust and trade issues because he already owns the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and two television stations in New York City.

But the financial plight of newspapers in the Internet age may make antitrust issues moot for media moguls who might want to invest in Newsday, legal and media experts said ...

"The newspaper industry is in such economic shambles today that for the government to stand in the way of a newspaper's economic vitality and health would be unsound policy," said Jack Myers, publisher of jackmyers.com, a media industry Web site. "The government's role is to support and maintain multiple media voices in the community."

While that's all well and good (And I hate to see economic concerns trump protecting choices for consumers.), the notion of maintaining "multiple media voices in the community" is a provocative one. That is, to be sure, New Yorkers may have a number of daily newspapers available, but the situation may be for naught if one corporation owns three of the major dailies.

Like I say, I can see the argument, but I'm not necessarily swayed by it. Nevertheless, I stopped getting my news from newspapers years ago, preferring Josh Marshall, Duncan Black, Steve Benen, et allia, to mine the news for me. I figure if such an approach is good enough for the POTUS, it's certainly good enough for me.