subscribeOdd Couple
by dusty on Sep.30, 2009 , under Uncategorized
Snarlin’ Marlin made no bones about his feelings toward members of the media at a press conference today.
“It’s hard for me because you guys jerk me around all the time,” said the Democratic state Rep from Wisconsin Rapids, Marlin Schneider, “Some days I hate your guts.”
Don’t feel bad, Marlin. There are plenty of days the feeling’s mutual, especially in a broad sense. You clod.
But while it’s obvious that neither side in the age-old battle between policymakers and the watchdog media shies away from trading verbal barbs, it’s just as clear that the numbers on one side of the fight are dwindling. And while Schneider didn’t resist taking the cheap shots where he could, the press conference he was conducting was actually intended to announce a move that could bolster the declining newspaper business.
It’s a decline that was painfully on display today. In something of an ironic twist, there wasn’t a single newspaper reporter at the very presser intended to herald newspapers’ salvation.
That’s awkward.
Granted, the term “salvation” is a bit of an exaggeration. Schneider apparently has plans to introduce legislation exempting buildings owned by newspapers from property taxes. It could certainly end up being a move that infuses some life into the business, though it’s unlikely to staunch the bleeding entirely. There are also questions as to the impact it would have on the already gaunt property tax revenues of budget-crunched municipalities, why radio or television stations shouldn’t also qualify and whether newspapers are even interested in that kind of special treatment.
Most importantly, I would like to see any kind of tax break or other financial package offered as an incentive, not a handout. The corporate overlords at newspapers are interested in the same thing as the corporate overlords at soda giants or automakers or petrol concerns — profit. Without some strings attached to the proposed property tax exemption, there’s nothing to keep them from pocketing that extra revenue and continuing to cut newsroom personnel.
If you don’t believe it, look no further than Madison’s own “two” newspapers, which I’m told have been profitable for some time now, but have been forced to endure further cuts to widen the margins, regardless.
A clause that disqualifies papers that undergo mergers from the tax credit could get Madison’s publications moving on a different track than they have been for the last decade. A minimum staffing level based on circulation could reverse the recent hiring (or firing) trends in Wisconsin’s markets. And a stipulation that only daily publications qualify for the tax exemption could even get the Capital Times eying a return to its former glory as an afternoon paper instead of a weekly.
These are just a couple of unresearched ideas I came up with in 5 minutes at my desk, going on midnight on a Tuesday. Whether they have any value, or whether Schneider’s proposal even warrants the paper a bill would be printed on, is certainly up for debate.
But the important thing is, even though reporters get in his hair in the course of doing their jobs, Schneider recognizes their necessity as facilitators of a broader conversation that society needs to have. While other lawmakers and opinion columnists and windbags will eventually decide whether his proposal has merit, he’s trying to get them to have that conversation. Schneider wants Wisconsinites to sit down and think about what the state would be without their newspapers, whether that’s a state they would want to live in, and what they can do to bring them back strong.
So, I guess, thanks Marlin, for your concern about the slow implosion of the American discourse’s staple for more than three centuries. You big jerk.
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September 30th, 2009 on 3:00 pm
In the “small world” category, Marlin Schneider was a substitute teacher at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids when I was a student there. Poor guy had to contend with me as a student and now he has to put up with my son, the reporter. Take it easy on the old guy!