Hearing: A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet

The House Judiciary Committee called a hearing yesterday to study the decline of the newspaper business, but it quickly deteriorated into a press-bashing session. Ideologues of the left and right made no effort to conceal their yearning for a day without journalists, when public officials would no longer be scrutinized.

Carl Shapiro, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, rejected new immunity from antitrust laws for teetering newspapers struggling to compete with Internet providers of news, entertainment and advertising.

The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Courts and Competition Policy and the Internet held a hearing on "A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet." At that hearing, Free Press, a public interest advocate organization, called for a national journalism strategy to address the problems in the newspaper industry and promote a vibrant news marketplace.