So I need to explain why this is a bad idea

The Dutch government wants to tax the internet to fund print media. To put a finer point on it, the Dutch have come up with the swell idea that the way to save print journalism is to tax another, different, sector of the economy. Now as a friend said on Facebook: “It’s nice to talk about the freedom of the internet, but the freedom of the internet doesn’t pay for actual journalism, especially the kind of investigative journalism upon which liberty in a complex society relies.”

Here’s the first problem: Journalism is not this pure shining platonic absolute. Journalism reflects the biases of those who pay for it. Journalism paid for by tax dollars becomes an organ of the state, or at the very least becomes subject to all sorts of ugly political influences.

Here’s the second problem: This is not funding Journalism. This is funding newspapers. This “assistance” will do absolutely nothing to stop the death spiral of the dead tree media, and will actually suck talented people away from other forms of expression. The reporters and employees from a bankrupt newspaper do not vanish from the face of the earth, they migrate to other platforms that may actually reach people.

Here’s the third problem: They are attempting to revive a dying industry by punishing the industry that is most likely to provide its replacement. Most newspapers are attempting to shift their business model on-line. Those will be the ones who survive. If this regime is in place it is unlikely any of those will be Dutch.