Peter Roff argues that new tariffs on paper could accelerate the decline of publishing jobs in what he calls “an extinction-level event” for journalism at the local level.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,” he was not yet President.
His point, about the virtue of a free press and the vice of crony capitalism, remains valid. The tension between the media and government helps, at least in theory, to keep everyone honest.
Now a trade dispute with Canada — launched by a single paper mill owned by New York-based venture capitalists — threatens to damage the whole system.
NORPAC, a newsprint manufacturer based in Washington State and owned by New York-based One Rock Capital, says tax breaks and subsidies given to its Canadian competitors by their government constitute unfair advantages needing to be remedied by protective, retaliatory tariffs.