The U.S. government is wading into deliberations over the future of journalism as printed newspapers, television stations and other traditional media outlets suffer from Americans’ growing reliance on the Internet.
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With the media business in a state of economic distress as audiences and advertisers migrate online, the Federal Trade Commission began a two-day workshop Tuesday to examine the profound challenges facing media companies and explore ways the government can help them survive.
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Media executives taking part are looking for a new business model for an industry that is watching traditional advertising revenue dry up, without online revenue growing quickly enough to replace it. Government officials want to protect a critical pillar of democracy — a free press.
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News is a public good, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. We should be willing to take action if necessary to preserve the news that is vital to democracy.
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The workshop is drawing speakers from both traditional and new media, including Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp.; Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Web site; and Len Downie, former executive editor of The Washington Post.
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Executives from Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. were also scheduled to participate, as were several government officials, including Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Among the options being discussed: tax law changes that would allow media companies to earn tax credits or become tax-exempt entities, and copyright law changes that would force search engines and other online aggregrators to compensate media companies for the content they produce.
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Also on the table is a proposed change in antitrust rules to allow newspapers to jointly negotiate payments from Web sites that use their content.
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The FTC is planning more workshops in the spring to discuss in greater depth the ideas that emerge this week.
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Congress has also tried to tackle…