The state of Washington has begun the inevitable shift toward State-controlled media. Governor Christine Gregoire has approved a 40 percent tax cut for newspapers in her state.

This is the first subtle step in moving the already liberal mainstream media toward government control without actually seizing the presses themselves. For the past several months liberals throughout the country have been calling for a bailout of the newspaper industry. They have used a modified "too big to fail argument" saying that they are "too important to 'democracy' to fail".

What good does a tax cut do for an industry that's not making any income to tax? This is window dressing for currying favor with the libs in government. For instance, if a newspaper decides to run an expose on corruption in government or on a liberal darling like unions, all that the government has to do is threaten the newspaper's tax cut or bailout money. Story killed.

In the interest of full disclosure the newspaper industry itself is mostly against the bailouts. But one wonders as the industry gets closer to a fundamental shift in their business model and possible shutdown, will they knuckle under and take the money?

SOURCE: Seattle Times story