Newspapers failing…Create a tax to help them fail more *Good Idea*

It’s no surprise that newspapers are going through tough times. With too many employees, a too harsh view and support of the internet, and an overall lack of good business practices have caused the unraveling we are seeing today. While they may claim until they’re blue in the face that it is the internet and “copyright violations” that are stealing their content and revenue, it is something themselves getting destroyed from the inside out. The whole basis of a free market economy is the birth and death of businesses and business models. When one fails, another stronger, more efficient, and overall better replacement comes to fill the empty space. Apparently the Netherlands missed that briefing as they have somehow come up with the dumbest solution I’ve ever heard: Imposing an “Internet Tax” and taking the proceeds to exclusively fund the failing newspapers that can’t compete in order to “help them out”. While there is already strong opposition and no real assurance it will pass, it still leaves me worried that someone could even think this was an acceptable solution. You simply can’t fix an amputated leg with a glue stick. Fix the core problem, the the results of said outcome.
Source: Tech Dirt





