A free press requires a free economy — VOICES for REASON

Apparently Dan Rather thinks Obama should not only make news, but remake the news. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Rather called on the President to form a “nonpartisan, blue-ribbon commission to assess the state of the news as an institution and an industry and to make recommendations for improving and stabilizing both.”

While I disagree with Rather’s suggestion, he does raise one issue that anyone who follows the news should regard as tremendously important.

The big conglomerates that own most of America’s news media may have, at any given moment, multiple regulatory, procurement and legislative matters before various arms of the federal government; their interests, therefore, can often run contrary to the interests of the citizens whom journalism, at its best, is meant to serve. There is little incentive to report without fear or favoritism on the same government one is trying to lobby. Increasingly, the news we get–and, significantly, the news we don’t get–reflects this conflict of interests.

Virtually every decision a business makes today is controlled and influenced by the government.  What products a business can make, how it makes them, how much it charges for them, who it hires, how much it pays them, which companies it can merge with or acquire, etc.–the government has a say in all of these decisions. As a result, politicians and bureaucrats hold a life and death power over businesses. Can anyone doubt that this has significant effect on what those companies are willing to say about the government?

Economic freedom and intellectual freedom are inextricably linked. Neither can survive for very long without the other. As Ayn Rand put it, “Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.”

To the extent that the government can arbitrarily dictate how a business functions, businesses will be motivated to toe the line. What happens, then, when those businesses include media companies? Well, just ask: Would Watergate have been uncovered if the Washington Post had not been fearlessly committed to pursuing the story?

Despite Rather’s insistence that he is not calling for “any form of government control” over media companies, his solution would only increase government involvement in the media. We don’t need Obama to tell us how to run the media–we need him to stop telling all of us how to run our businesses and our lives.

Photo: flickr/drb62