After my small rant on the administration's meddling with the Chrysler's marketing budget, along comes the state of Washington with its own form of a bailout. In trying to emulate the Washington D.C. mindset, Washington state has decided to give its newspapers a 40% cut in business taxes to help them stay alive and print another day. One of the papers has already stopped publication and changed to an Internet-only format. Other newspapers around the country have struggled with low subscriptions and falling ad revenue as people look for news in other ways and without the perceived biases plainly evident in many of the nation's largest papers.

If newspapers are failing, what should we do first? Well, I think we should look at the leadership of the industry, its collective attitude and mindset, and the leadership of individual papers. If there was ever a case study of failed leadership in a single industry, this is at or near the top (along with the automakers and airlines). I have always loved newspapers since I was a kid, and still find great satisfaction in holding a paper in my hands and reading every section. However, I no longer subscribe to any paper and get all my news online from several newspaper Internet editions and online news sources. I would love to see the newspaper industry succeed, but on their own merits and not because the federal government subsidizes them.

Technologies come and go according to the marketplace and the vision and leadership of particular companies. I love horses, but I'm glad the horse and buggy industry didn't get bailed out. The horseless carriage won out and we have been the better for it as a nation (can't argue that, all environmental arguments aside). Newspapers have done a terrible job of adapting to market needs and trends, and their editorial policies are a national joke (I loved one comment from a reader of the Seattle Times...the online edition... about the new tax break policy: "Why don't they create one paper and call it Pravda?").

Really, what do we want? Do we want Washington or state governments to step in and try to save certain industries? Or do we allow the market, that is, you and me, decide who wins and loses according to what we're looking for?