That’s what Rupert Murdoch concluded in an op-ed published in today’s Wall Street Journal.

I could not agree with this more:

The most damning problem with government “help” is what we saw with the bailout of the U.S. auto industry: Help props up those who are producing things that customers do not want.

The prospect of the U.S. government becoming directly involved in commercial journalism ought to be chilling for anyone who cares about freedom of speech. The Founding Fathers knew that the key to independence was to allow enterprises to prosper and serve as a counterweight to government power. It is precisely because newspapers make profits and do not depend on the government for their livelihood that they have the resources and wherewithal to hold the government accountable.

Yours truly shared some thoughts on that very subject:

To be sure, there’s an important role for nonprofits to produce journalism (as we do at Carolina Journal). But the notion that the government can give special treatment to previously commercial enterprises and never interfere with their operations is naive at best.