Barack Obama didn’t quite say he was open to a government bailout of the newspaper industry last week, as many reports suggested — but he did say that he would be “happy to look” at a bill that would allow newspapers to operate as non-profits. That was enough to send some media pundits into overdrive. Slate’s Jack Shafer: “The last thing newspapers need is the sort of help from the government that turns them into NPR, endlessly begging for contributions, pursuing wealthy philanthropists, and standing in line for government handouts.” A selection of the reaction, after the jump.
The bill would gut the independence of the press, killing its watchdog role. It also makes no business sense because reorganizing as a non-profit won

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