Separation of Press and State

Mr. Moroney suggested that the government should pass legislation guaranteeing newspapers “reasonable compensation” from Internet companies that reproduce content without paying for it.

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, has introduced a bill he calls the Newspaper Revitalization Act that would treat newspapers as educational nonprofit entities with a kind of tax status similar to churches, hospitals and public broadcasters. In exchange for that most-favored-nation status, the industry would trade in what would seem to be one of the bedrocks of a truly free press, the right to endorse candidates for public office.

Government bailouts, including special tax status, seem likely to kill independent journalism, not save it. A free press that serves at the pleasure of its government is a diminution of the intent of the founders and not, by the way, a free press.