4 ms·

"Yet more loopholes" is what happens when you refuse to think for yourself and instead need to cram everything into tiny, generalising, categories. A better fra

"Yet more loopholes" is what happens when you refuse to think for yourself and instead need to cram everything into tiny, generalising, categories. A better framework for evaluating policy is to ask if their objective is worthwhile and if their mechanism is fit: Local news is dying/dead in many regions, yet it is essential for the functioning of democracy. Asking people to make informed decisions without reliable reporting works about as well as a thermostat without a thermometer, i. e. it doesn't. Since everyone profits when others make better decisions at the voting booth, there is a direct argument to be made that the benefit of people subscribing to a local paper goes not to them, but their community, especially since important stories also tend to reach non-subscribers. Assuming one agrees with that point and isn't part of the all-journalists-are-corrupt-marxist-crowd (or the alternative some-blogger-can-do-it-better-crowd), one would want to find ways to support local news. But direct subsidies run into obvious problems. Reducing taxes would then be an obvious way to allow journalism to function: Its benefit is proportional to revenue and therefore preserves the market mechanisms. Books and newspapers actually are exempt/partially exempt from VAT in many countries. But VAT just isn't a relevant factor in most of the US. You can consider this "just a loophole" in the way that "don't put arsenic on pizza" is "just another regulation".

eru 7y ago
Who decides what's tax-exemption worthy journalism versus yellow press filth / entertainment? Any reduction of taxes on a special category means a relatively heavier tax burden on other necessities. Like tampons. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampon_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampon_tax for equivalent outrage. Btw, I'm all in favour of allowing people to put arsenic on pizza, as long as its clearly labelled.
VLM 7y ago
How is local news essential to democracy or help make better voting decisions? For example, according to Patch (which is not nonprofit) this morning, if I exclude the vast amount of advertising and pathological fake news and focus on actual local coverage, in my hometown the local electronics recycling program is temporarily moving because of road construction, and three miles across town the police have reported three recent delivery package thefts. How would either story influence me being more or less likely to vote for Trump in 2020? There's been an intense cultural shift towards not making informed decisions in the voting booth; one MUST either vote along demographic identity lines or optionally follow groupthink or keep very, very quiet lest suffer possibly violent consequences. If those cultural trends change, then there would be motivation for informed voting. However, "everyone in charge" at this time likes the system and its a disinformation to pretend informed voting is relevant at this time. The problem at this time isn't "voter education" but "conform to your group or be punished".
- cartoonworld 7y ago
  (Convinced into) Not voting for Trump hasn't as much to do with a well functioning of democracy. >There's been an intense cultural shift towards not making informed decisions in the voting booth; [...] These latter points ring with me, and I think bolster the argument that higher quality local news will aid our democracy. Currently, if you scope out the national press, you get a national point of view. Without reporters writing about the affect that the national story will have on the local economy (aka "Me", "Our Community", "Our schools") voters can only be informed on one level. When the air qualify affects your neighbors due to reduced EPA mandates, or school taxes go up because federal dollars evaporate, or kids are learning to check boxes in standardized tests, or the local banks get bought and sold to multinationals, and everyone mortgage is underwater along with the back yard, I think I might see a lot more value the work of a local reporter making local connections to these national ideas. A robot can post about the reycling on patch, but can that robot also mention that a federal mandate makes the import tariff on transistors a little higher, and that Genui-Sys Integrations is gonna be underwater on its ECU contract, so possibly Billy's dad will face the pink slip? Real Example: I didn't know that GM was contracting some electronics manufacturing to a pick and place shop floor in my county until I saw the shutters and asked around: "Hey what did that company even make? Bad market or what?" They made car parts.
- toast0 7y ago
  Local news won't help much with informed voting for national candidates, unless there's something specific going on like President X is working to close down the local industry etc. It can be very helpful for informing about local candidates. Even the nearby metropolitan newspaper isn't going to tell me about the incumbent running for reelection who only showed up to one board meeting in the last term; I need the local county newspaper for that.

eru 7y ago

Who decides what's tax-exemption worthy journalism versus yellow press filth / entertainment? Any reduction of taxes on a special category means a relatively heavier tax burden on other necessities. Like tampons. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampon_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampon_tax for equivalent outrage. Btw, I'm all in favour of allowing people to put arsenic on pizza, as long as its clearly labelled.

VLM 7y ago

How is local news essential to democracy or help make better voting decisions? For example, according to Patch (which is not nonprofit) this morning, if I exclude the vast amount of advertising and pathological fake news and focus on actual local coverage, in my hometown the local electronics recycling program is temporarily moving because of road construction, and three miles across town the police have reported three recent delivery package thefts. How would either story influence me being more or less likely to vote for Trump in 2020? There's been an intense cultural shift towards not making informed decisions in the voting booth; one MUST either vote along demographic identity lines or optionally follow groupthink or keep very, very quiet lest suffer possibly violent consequences. If those cultural trends change, then there would be motivation for informed voting. However, "everyone in charge" at this time likes the system and its a disinformation to pretend informed voting is relevant at this time. The problem at this time isn't "voter education" but "conform to your group or be punished".

cartoonworld 7y ago
(Convinced into) Not voting for Trump hasn't as much to do with a well functioning of democracy. >There's been an intense cultural shift towards not making informed decisions in the voting booth; [...] These latter points ring with me, and I think bolster the argument that higher quality local news will aid our democracy. Currently, if you scope out the national press, you get a national point of view. Without reporters writing about the affect that the national story will have on the local economy (aka "Me", "Our Community", "Our schools") voters can only be informed on one level. When the air qualify affects your neighbors due to reduced EPA mandates, or school taxes go up because federal dollars evaporate, or kids are learning to check boxes in standardized tests, or the local banks get bought and sold to multinationals, and everyone mortgage is underwater along with the back yard, I think I might see a lot more value the work of a local reporter making local connections to these national ideas. A robot can post about the reycling on patch, but can that robot also mention that a federal mandate makes the import tariff on transistors a little higher, and that Genui-Sys Integrations is gonna be underwater on its ECU contract, so possibly Billy's dad will face the pink slip? Real Example: I didn't know that GM was contracting some electronics manufacturing to a pick and place shop floor in my county until I saw the shutters and asked around: "Hey what did that company even make? Bad market or what?" They made car parts.
toast0 7y ago
Local news won't help much with informed voting for national candidates, unless there's something specific going on like President X is working to close down the local industry etc. It can be very helpful for informing about local candidates. Even the nearby metropolitan newspaper isn't going to tell me about the incumbent running for reelection who only showed up to one board meeting in the last term; I need the local county newspaper for that.