President Obama says the kind of journalism done by newspapers is “absolutely critical to the health of our democracy” and he’s “happy to look at” proposals to save “fact-based reporting.” But don’t expect the newspaper-junkie-in-chief to break out the keys to the bailout vault anytime soon.

With trillions already thrown at the banks, billions spent on the auto industry and a potentially costly health care bill to push through, the president is unlikely to look for new and interesting ways to expand the deficit. Unless you count Afghanistan. — PS

Toledo Blade via The Hill:

“What I hope is that people start understanding if you’re getting your newspaper over the Internet, that’s not free and there’s got to be a way to find a business model that supports that.”

Several bills have been introduced in Congress to aid the newspaper industry, including a Senate measure that would allow newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks. The President was noncommittal about the legislation but said: “I haven’t seen detailed proposals yet, but I’ll be happy to look at them.”

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