The Connecticut news media business has been buffeted in recent weeks with signs of its own demise – first from the announcement that the New Britain Herald and Bristol Press would be forced to close unless a buyer is found, then the Tribune Company sought bankruptcy protection after decimating the Hartford Courant, and most recently with the abrupt firing of radio hosts Diane Smith and Colin McEnroe from WTIC.

Just what to do about all of this continues to be a pressing question - and today, the discussion proves to be quite interesting.

Democratic State Rep. Frank Nicastro has gained some national press attention for his attempts to save the Bristol Press.  Reuters wrote an article chronicling some of Mr. Nicastro’s efforts, in which he said this:

Nicastro and fellow legislators want the papers to survive, and petitioned the state government to do something about it. “The media is a vitally important part of America,” he said, particularly local papers that cover news ignored by big papers and television and radio stations.

The Reuters piece goes on to assess what the impact would be on the free press if the government intervened to save it.

Relying on government help raises ethical questions for the press, whose traditional role has been to operate free from government influence as it tries to hold politicians accountable to the people who elected them. Even some publishers desperate for help are wary of this route.

In the days preceding online news information and blogs – which bear some responsibility for the closing of the Herald and the Press - this probably would have been the whole story.  But instead, the article was posted on the Reuters website, where it propagated on the web via sites like Little Green Footballs, where a commenter posted the link.

The story then caught the attention of others who were interested, and some of whom called Mr. Nicastro.  The State Rep. commented that “Reuters “twisted that story horribly,” the Bristol Democrat said”. 

Again, you might think that would be the end of it – just another reporter taking comments out of context to fit a preconceived notion.  But because Nicastro’s rebuttal was posted on the blog, the author could respond – and he did.

My story doesn’t portray Mr. Nicastro as trying to bail out the Press. He most certainly is trying to save it from going out of business, however. I also twisted nothing in the story.

For all of the valid discussion about what should be done in response to the changing times, it is interesting to consider that the old model of distributing news information would have stifled the above discussion at least three times.