Connecticut’s media will be paying close attention to see what approach, if any, the Connecticut legislature takes on the impending closings of the New Britain Herald and Bristol Press. These papers are starting to attain national notoriety as the New York Times wrote a piece this weekend and George Will mentioned the situation during Sunday’s Meet the Press roundtable.
With New Britain’s Rep. John Geragosian taking the reins of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee, it will be interesting to see what, if any, actions he plans to take to help these papers. There are certainly many economic questions that arise in this scenario but there are many ethical questions as well. Newspapers are the State’s watchdog. What happens when the watchdog becomes reliant upon the State?
