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Show DAILY HERALD Thursday, April 30. 2009 A9 EDITORIALS EDITORIAL BOARD Rona Rahlf, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Jim Tynen, Editorial Page Editor IN OUR VIEW How to help , t .S. Rep. Jason Chaf- fetz recently gave a thumbs down to a bailout of the newspaper industry. That's OK because what's needed more than a bailout is for the federal government to butt out. U Media companies should be allowed to freely combine forces to survive in a rapidly changing world. Right now, government regulatory interference is getting in the way. Simply allowing the free market to work would be a boon to everyone in our democracy, while providing a model of what Washington can really do to help the economy. Last week a House panel heard from newspaper industry figures that one way to help the beleaguered industry is to update antiquated U.S. antitrust laws. That got a cool reception from the Obama administration and a number of lawmakers. Here's where Chaffetz veered: He reportedly said that Congress "should be wary of granting any new antitrust exemptions." That position should be First of all, antitrust legislation is based on obsolete notions. Back when a horseless carriage was still a novelty, politicians and activists worried that the growth of big corporations would culminate in monopolies that would crush competition and jack up prices. Antitrust laws were designed to prevent that. Newspapers got especially close scrutiny because back then they were the only real source of news. ; You couldn't have them monopoliz-- t jng the First Amendment because jhiey would stifle other important J Voices if allowed.to grow too large. piverse information was deemed a.v iual resource" foj citizens' and it ;t"jiiThe government limited newspaper mergers, as well as business practices that in theory might hamper competition. Also limited were ties between newspapers and traditional broadcast media. But the era when such restrictions were appropriate is long gone. Cable television, talk radio and the Internet have spawned a countless host of outlets for free speech. Never again will any one source be able to dominate the scene. It's no secret that competition from new media has hit the newspaper industry hard, and it's working hard to adapt. One of the obstacles, however, is those outmoded antitrust laws. "When it comes to daily news-- , papers, the enforcement of the antitrust laws has not yet caught up to current market realities," Brian Tierney, chief executive of Philadelphia Newspapers, told the House Judiciary subcommittee on courts and competition policy, on which Chaffetz sits. "Daily newspapers are competing intensely for local audiences and advertisers with an array of competitors, particularly those that continue to emerge on the Internet." Most newspapers today provide online content free. You don't have to be a Nobel laureate in economics to see problems with that business model. Yet few newspapers dare to charge subscription fees if their competitors don't do the same, for fear of being undercut. But they're g prevented from getting together on that for fear of antitrust complaints. If they even sit down together to lotions, Tierney talk jttoutts,u,c,h told th Houseipanel, it would break the law. " "Our industry is not looking for a bailout. We're not looking for a dime. We're just looking for the ability to have discussions, which may or may not bear fruit," he said. Similar fears inhibit other efforts, such as partnerships between ? ON... G Ji f MIGHT BE I ! newspapers and television stations, or mergers of newspapers in the same market. This is not to say that any one of these moves is definitely the way to go, only that media and by extension the companies should get the public they serve government off their backs. They should be able to explore new options. So why are newspapers important now? Because we still are the foundation of news gathering and dissemination. Think you can get it all online? The reality is that a huge chunk of news originates with newspapers. Online services just grab the free news and repackage it. If newspapers disappear, so will your main source of online news. Warts and all, newspapers are a better alternative than a government that operates with no oversight. Newspapers are the only enterprises that make it their main business to find out what's going on in a community. As the various bailout programs blunder on, it's becoming obvious that they're ineffective. An alternative is needed, and this is it: Get rid of excessive regulation in an information-ric- h world, and let media businesses do what they need to do to survive. Fears of creating a monolithic voice are unfounded in world. today's high-tec- h Chaffetz seems to have drifted momentarily from his free market principles. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of free enterprise. Maybe he needs to think this one through a little more carefully. It's time to dump regulatory approaches from the buggy whip era. Precautions of public health The Utah Department of Health should have immediately released a few specifics about a probable case of swine flu within our borders. It's the right thing to do. On Wednesday, officials said they had identified one person who probably has the disease, but further tests were needed to be absolutely sure: The Health Department won't release any more information than that for example, the location of the infection or basic facts about the victim until it gets final results from the federal Centers for Disease Control. This is just wrong. In refusing to provide the most rudimentary data, the department has raised anxieties across the entire state. It could be anyone, anywhere: a store clerk in Ogden, someone who frequents a senior citizens center in Salt Lake, or a grade school kid in Provo. Utahns are understandably nervous. We're not asking for name, address and Social Security number. But health officials should have released a few details city, approximate age, and occupation if an adult, or what school attended if a child. Having at least some idea of who is at risk would relieve most Utahns of anxiety. Those who might be affected could take precautions. If it turns out to be nothing, then the precautions were for nothing, but there's nothing wrong with that. Authorities are proceeding in a way they must believe is responsible. But their course doesn't serve the public as they hope. It makes things worse. No harm would be done and some good might be if they were ever so slightdone ly more open with what could be information. They don't want to cause unnecessary alarm. But people are alarmed anyway, so what's the fpfif nj n LLLM YOUUAHT- soRauTZfy MR HARRIS. AFTER PBRFORMANCB IN TH0U6HT VP CLASS. 6RAPE YOUR FIRST. lyEHEYBRSEBN SUCH UTTSK 6IBBBRISH! YES, - YOUR $p to see me. profes- - I I I RUTH MARCUS White House - style 'FaMy-Mendl-y,' I'm writing a Mother's Day column this year not exactly the I intended. The column I was planning began: Why is this Mother's Day different from all other Mother's Days? Answer: Because this Mother's Day, there are many more mothers in and mothers of the White House young children than ever before. That remains true. The deputy chief of staff, Mona Sutphen, has a and an almost 4 Marne Levine, chief of staff for NationalJEcqnomic Council Director , Larry Summers, has a 3 The healthare and a czar, NancyAnn Min DeParle, has two boys, 9 and 8. The staff secretary, Lisa Brown, Jackie Norris, chief has a of staff for Michelle Obama, has twins and a Vice President Biden's domestic policy adviser, Terrell McSweeny, Biden's counsel, has a Cynthia Hogan, back in the workforce after a dozen years away, has and a a This is a huge change from previous White Houses, Republican and Democratic. Two theories that may explain it: First, when it comes to the mothers with young children, a generational shift. Thirtysomething husbands may be more willing to make accommodations or perhaps even take a lap or two around the Daddy Track than countertheir 40- - or parts. Thirtysomething moms have more experience growing up with working mothers than women of earlier generations; they may be freer of the "I don't know how she does it" compulsion to bake from scratch. even the Second, the workplace White House workplace, to the extent it can is becoming more flexible. Dads even White House dads are more involved than they used to be, and more familiar, thanks to their own working wives, with the juggling that that entails. When Sutphen was offered the deputy chief of staff job, she told me, "My first reaction was, 'What is this going to do to the family?'" Her husband is political director of the Democratic National Committee, not job. His response exactly a was, "You absolutely have to take the job. We'll figure it out. I'll make adjustments." When the president and first lady discovered that there weren't enough White House laptops to go around, they ordered up more, so staffers wouldn't be chained to their desks. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been known to end senior staff meetings early to review homework with low-stre- "As we get closer and closer to controlling Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, all I can say is . . . time flies when you're having fun!" his kids (ages 12, 10 and 8) before they go off to school. Press secretary Robert Gibbs has spoken from the lectern about making peanut-butte- r sandwiches for his son, who is nearly 6. Hogan, Biden's counsel, works an odd concept, given White House hours, but one that allows her to leave in the late afternoon, have a family dinner, and then work, most nights, from home. "That means sometimes he picks up the phone and wants to talk to me and I'm not here, and he's okay with that and tracks me down on the cell," Hogan says of the vice president, who knows the pressures on a working parent. What put a glitch in my plans for an entirely rosy column and prompted it now was the announcement last week that White House communications director Ellen Moran was leaving to become chief of staff for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Not exactly a part-tim- e gig, but less intense than k craziness of the the West Wing. Moran, whose mother had moved to Washington to help with her two children, almost 4 and 2, said she was leaving for a job that was "a perfect fit for me, professionally and personally." Translation: Having not worked on the Obama campaign, she was having a tough time fitting in with the close-knboys club of the West Wing, which made it that much harder to go days at a time without seeing her 80 percent it children. i w ...-- II UlUANTBPTOSAY! n 60TCHA QUESTIONS PIS- TRACTS? MB FROM WHAT ID.. ' 90YOU rmrrvrrrr-rrII 04S-- 1 TWU6HTYW6U1S II R SUMS I WERE ALL II j LEARN I CHALLBH6M TO U tl'i r ABOUT i 1 We invite readers to share their thoughts. You can: Go to www.heraldextra.com and find the "submit a letter" link under the Opinions tab, or under "Reader Services;" letters to dhlettersheraldex-tra.com- ; mail to fax to 344-298- P.O. Box 717, Provo, UT, 84603 I So letters can be verified, writers must include their full name, address, and daytime phone number. (Street addresses and phone numbers will not be published.) i We prefer shorter letters, 100 to 200 words. Letters may be edited for length. Because of the volume of responses, we cannot acknowledge unpublished letters. Letters become the property of the Daily Herald. night when he got up at 11:30 p.m. looking for more milk. So that was the only time I saw him yesterday." But the truth remains that these strains tend to weigh harder on women than men and that the proliferation of mothers in this White House is still an experiment of uncertain outcome. "We're early enough that it's unclear how long we're going to last doing this," Brown, the staff secretary, told me. The Obamas "want it to work. We want it to work. But it's hard." We talked after 9 p.m., once she had put her son to bed, and before sitting down, finally, to dinner. Moran's departure underscores the immutable fact that a family friendly White House, no matter how is the ultimate oxymoron. As Emanuel has said, "The only family we're going to be good for is the I Ruth Marcus is a columnist with first family." the Washington Post Writers Gibbs, explaining Moran's deparlast "I son saw that lamented Group. ture, my -- Bruce Tinsley MALLARD FILLMORE m How to comment around-the-cloc- Garry Trudeau D00NESBURY b -- newspapers TT ; hli-'VWN- 07 I I Lrf S T--r 'Sim AttZTA JlflS iX Or f SyW inc.WWrtQMi VRs. y TtMIMfi ak. - i |
