FCC's Baker Says Government Should Stay Out of Journalism

In a speech to The Media Institute in Washington on the future of journalism, FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker conceded that like many other industries, journalism is at a crossroads. But she said she disagreed that government needed to step in to fund the business.

"I oppose the proposition that at the first sign of a challenge the government should step in and fix it," she said. "Our nation has flourished for over 200 years with a strong independent press as a check on government abuse. This tradition should not be discarded so easily." She said tomorrow's journalist won't be a "a man with a fedora and a typewriter," but that the core attributes should remain" objective, fact-based reporting that uncovers the truth about power and powerful interests, private and public. Among those core values are independence from government, she suggests.