A cry for help

I don't know of a worse sign for an industry's future than that it starts asking for government subsidies (Techdirt). But that's apparently what Frank Blethen, president of the Seattle Times company, is proposing.

This must be a complete shoe-in, right? Newspapers are all about influence: political, commercial, local influence. They're valuable to advertise in because they have influence. The ads work because their readers trust them. So if the Seattle Times thinks the government should bail it out with tax breaks, it should be trivial to bring all that influence to bear and get those tax breaks nodded through. (Remember when it was the Sun wot won it? And all that was at stake that time was a general election - imagine what would have happened if the survival of the Sun itself had been in the balance.) Even farmers and car-makers have managed to get this sort of tax break, and their products are just food and cars. The Seattle Times' very product is influence. I expect they'll have this all wrapped up by the middle of next week.