Massachusetts Bill Set to Subsidize Newspaper Subscriptions

Yay! People are fired! C’mon, man.

 

Here's an update on Paramount Global, "Paramount Global executives warned investors on an earnings call the company ran into significant "headwinds" in 2022 and that this won't be a "robust year" for profits."

Here's the entire story, Paramount+ prices are going up, whether you get Showtime or not | Engadget

 

It's a business. Nobody has a right to their jobs.

 

NPR has a studio in LA, broadcasting at 2 AM. Why?

 

Which has fuck all to do with this.

 

Perhaps a city the size of LA has an audience at that time and we live in a 24-7 information environment?

 

Paramount Global brought in more than $30 billion last year. How that money gets portioned out to shareholders, and what that means for Wall Street, isn't necessarily a concern for our little thought experiment.

Take the half dozen biggest US media companies.

Ask each for a voluntary contribution to the North American Small Market Journalism Start Up Fund. Let's say one-half of 1% of pre-tax revenue.

In exchange for which they receive an equal reduction in taxable earnings.

In the case of Paramount Global / National Amusements that's $150 000 000.

Added to which we'll include lower estimates from 5 other immense conglomerates. Let's say $75 million each. So $375 million from the other big players.

That's $525 million. Round the whole thing down to accommodate ideologues and tax cranks and freebooters and Gordon Gekko.

So lowball $400 000 000 the first year to launch a network of local news orgs, administered by an independent, non-governmental board. (Corporate contributions will be reduced in the years ahead. This is just the start up.)

Spread that money across 3200 counties in the US, and it's $125000 each. To launch a local news organization, which in each case will produce local content for their county. Online, paper, radio, TV, etc., ad inf. Whatever best suits local needs.

Each news org to contribute stories to a national news exchange made up of a consortium of those local newsrooms.



Maybe we should think about treating local journalism the way we treat other public utilities and services.

As a public necessity not subject to the erratic push/pull of the profit motive.

But not run by government, either.

 

Looks like the problem this year is the decline in corporate sponsorship.

https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/npr-layoffs-ad-revenue-decline-1235532956/

NPR to Cut 10% of Its Staff

 

in the meantime

 

Because it's the 2nd largest radio market in America?

Because NPR Los Angeles services something like 11 public radio stations in Southern California?

 

Nobody is listening at 2AM.