Gibbs: No Bailout for Newspapers

Newspapers struggling to survive a difficult economy and readership decline shouldn't expect a last-minute bailout from the government, the White House said Monday.

That's the Obama administration stance right now, even as some newspapers find themselves in the embarrassing position of making news of their imminent destruction their top front page story. (I'm looking at you, Monday's edition of The Boston Globe.)

At the White House briefing Monday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether the White House was considering a bailout for the newspaper industry.

It was worth the shot to ask. But sorry, newspaper industry, a check is not on its way.

"I think that might be a tricky area to get into given the differing roles," Gibbs said. "Obviously, the president believes there has to be a strong free press. I think there's a certain concern and a certain sadness when you see cities losing their newspapers or regions of the country losing their newspapers. So it's certainly of concern. I don't know what, in all honesty, government can do about it."

The question came from Ed Henry, a CNN correspondent who started his career in newspaper journalism. When he asked Gibbs the question, he had in mind the Boston Globe in particular, which was, and still may be, in danger of closing. The Boston Globe, in what had to be a sad moment of realization that it was completely on its own, reported the Henry question and Gibbs answer in an article posted on its Web site's front page Monday.

The New York Times Co., which has owned the 137-year-old Boston newspaper since 1993, on Monday postponed its threat to close the Boston Globe after the paper reached agreement with six of its seven unions on cost-saving measures.

For now, the New York Times Co. has backed down from its stated intention to file a notice to close the paper within 60 days, but it is still waiting to reach agreement with that last union.

Hopefully the Globe will survive. But if the paper does close, in addition to the larger problem of the void in intelligent, investigative news coverage of the greater Boston area, there will be a lot of journalists looking for new jobs.

I saw a Politico story today on Sasha Johnson, a CNN reporter who is leaving the media in mid-May to become press secretary for the Department of Transportation, the same government agency that former Chicago Tribune reporter Jill Zuckman is working for as director of public affairs and assistant to Secretary Ray LaHood.

Maybe Ed Henry can ask Gibbs next time if the government has openings for the entire Boston Globe staff.