A government fund to help journalism … that wouldn’t corrupt journalism

There’s a funny quirk in the argument over whether the government should directly subsidize journalism: To prove their (opposing) positions, both sides invoke the Founding Fathers and the sexy concept of … postal subsidies.

The folks arguing that there should be government support for journalism say: Let’s stop being naive about this. The government has been subsidizing the media for ages. Look at how the Founding Fathers gave lower postal rates to newspapers to encourage the growth of a free press!

Those arguing against massive government intervention argue that most...