UPDATED: Gov't Subsidizing Newspapers? Nothing New

When people float new ideas to help "save" newspapers by getting more government help, the notion is often dismissed as something new and/far out. In fact, a new study out today from USC Annenberg's Geoff Cowan and David Westphal looks at the history of government subsidies for newspapers since the days of George Washington -- and finds that it has actually declined in the past forty years -- cut in half since 1970, from about $4 billion in help to $2 billion.

Just one e.g. noted by NYT: "The federal government has discounted postage rates for publications since 1792, but in the last 40 years, the discount has fallen to less than $300 million from almost $2 billion, adjusted for inflation." UPDATE: Poynter's Bill Mitchell weighs in with good post.