Kerry, Conyers to hold newspaper hearings

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) will hold hearings this week intended to find ways to help the struggling newspaper industry.   

Kerry has scheduled a hearing on May 6 of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet on “The Future Of Journalism,” while Conyers announced a Tuesday hearing titled, “A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet.”  

{mosads}A press release from Kerry’s office said the Commerce Subcommittee hearing “will address the economic recession’s impact on media and discuss the future of journalism.”  

“An independent news media is vital to our democracy,” Kerry said in the statement. “It holds power accountable while giving voice to the people and interests who might otherwise never be heard.”

He said newspapers today are “struggling just to stay afloat,” and that for too long people have turned the other way. “Whatever the model for the future, we must do all we can to ensure a diverse and independent news media endures,” Kerry said in the statement.   

Long threatened by the growth of the Internet and changing reading habits, newspapers across the country have run into problems. Over the last few months, the Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer have stopped publishing, while other papers have undertaken a new series of buyouts to reduce payroll.    

Conyers’s hearing will include testimony from Carl Shapiro, a deputy assistant attorney general who specializes in anti-trust issues at the Justice Department; Brian Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer; and Bernie Lunzer, president of The Newspaper Guild.