[Rick's comments below are well-written, but he makes a factual error when talking about the Institute for Humane Studies, where Damon works. Contrary to Rick's assertion that his tax dollars went to IHS, the group is funded solely by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations. IHS may be a controversial group in some circles, but in my mind it has done a valuable service in promoting libertarian and classical liberal ideas. --Declan] ********** Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 14:24:55 -0400 From: "Rick G. Karr" <neuunitat_private> To: declanat_private Subject: Re: FC: IHS' Damon Cheston on creating $18 billion federal contentagency References: <5.0.2.1.0.20010726135117.0207a830at_private> Declan -- You wrote: > if Rick cares to reply, I'll give him the last word. Thanks -- I'll take you up on that offer. Mr. Chetson wrote: > I take issue with Mr. Karr's assumption that because reporting "ain't > cheap", the government has to step in to do it. Karr assumes that the kind > of programming on NPR cannot be provided for voluntarily in a free market - > hence his statements about MSNBC and CNN. So, instead, he argues that all > people should be forced to pay for programming via tax money that only a few > people actually use. (Indeed, if more people used it, advertising would > cover the cost in Karr's scenario). I assumed nothing about the market. Instead, I made an argument based on the media landscape before us -- namely, that a deregulated market in one medium (radio) had resulted in the decimation of news reporting and the debasement of what little remains, and that only a group of government-incubated institutions (NPR, PRI, Pacifica) have "voluntarily" provided that service. Mr. Chetson never addresses either that analysis or the underlying premise: that the high cost of quality newsgathering makes for margins so low that investors are loathe to create new newsgathing infrastructures, social or physical. Secondly, Mr. Chetson seems to have seen a different Minow proposal that I did. The one I've read about suggests that funds be drawn from spectrum auctions. I wouldn't call revenue generated by a government auction of a limited natural resource "tax money". Finally, I never said government "ha[d] to do" anything -- only that I saw the Minow proposal as a valid starting point for a debate on the creation of a public-spirited online newsgathering organization. Please recall that government played two roles in the creation of public broadcasting -- seeding (CPB monies) and shielding (FCC noncommercial frequency assignments). I'd argue that a quango like the CPB would be much better suited to both tasks vis a vis the online media, and I'd agree that foundation support is vital in any event. > It's always interesting to hear people define the "public good" and then > insist that people should be forced to supply it through tax money. Usually > their conception of the "public good" includes all sorts of things they > personally like and benefit from. In fact, all sorts of activities - from > exercise to eating fruit to philosophizing about the role of government - > contribute to the public good. Does that mean that government ought to > provide them? This thinly-veiled ad hominem attact strikes me as somewhat silly: Should government -- for instance, that of the Commonwealth of Virginia -- provide institutions of higher learning that include right-libertarian research and education centers? If there were a demand for the IHS, the market would have provided for it, no? I briefly lived in Virginia and paid taxes, yet never used the services of your institution. I even happen to think the philosophy it propagates is problematic at best and downright antidemocratic at worst. But none of this bothers me. I pay for a lot of things I don't use. That's the price of living in a democratic republic, in which our representatives are entrusted with making decisions on our behalf. Some of those decisions stink. Others lead to the creation of vitally important instituitions -- like George Mason U. and National Public Radio. Best, -- Rick G. Karr Cultural Correspondent National Public Radio News *** OPINIONS ARE MINE, NOT NPR's *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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