Free at Last

New newspapers are springing up everywhere, despite the government's help.

Matt Welch from the May 2005 issue

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Boardrooms tend to respond a little more quickly than newsrooms, though, and the big boys are eagerly jumping on the tabloid bandwagon. The Tribune Co. has launched papers in Chicago and New York, Knight-Ridder announced in January that it plans to expand heavily into free tabs, and The New York Times itself bid $16.5 million in January to buy 49 percent of the Boston Metro, less than a year after Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger called the free papers "degrading."

The Times-Metro deal hit a snag in January, when the Justice Department announced it was investigating possible antitrust ramifications. The complaint behind the investigation, initiated by the paid tabloid Boston Herald, alleges that since the Times already owns the market-leading Boston Globe, it could use its leverage to squeeze the Herald out of business.

The Herald, like the newspaper chains that successfully lobbied Richard Nixon 35 years ago, understands that nothing can prop up a struggling newspaper, at the expense of new competitors, better than the federal government. But newspapers have been doing just fine these last five years without Uncle Sam's help. If the government wants to preserve newspapers, the best thing it can do is get the hell out of the way.�