Philadelphia Inquirer a "Lifeblood of Democracy" ?

In today's Washington Post, George Will reports on conversations between Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Brian Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It seems Rendell has been busy redirecting bailout cash from Pennsylvania taxpayers straight into the coffers of Tierney's failing company. Naturally, this is perfectly justified, because according to Rendell's spokesman, papers like the Enquirer are "the lifeblood of democracy."

In response to Rendell's spokesman saying that newspapers are "the lifeblood of democracy," the [Wall Street] Journal said "newspapers aren't the lifeblood of anything if they are merely an adjunct of the state" and are "dependent on the politicians [they are] supposed to cover."

As Will notes, Tieney's explanation for how his paper will remain independent after this governmently-coerced-tax-dollar injection into the Enquirer is even more bizarre:

In a...letter to the Journal, Tierney said "the overwhelming majority of our employees" -- truck drivers, advertising salespeople, etc. -- whose jobs would be saved by government money "have no influence on the editorial content" of the papers.

Will's conclusion:

So: Even if the papers' survival, and therefore the jobs of reporters and editorial writers, would depend on the government's good will, the papers would remain independent because reporters and editorialists are a minority of the papers' employees. Good grief.

I'm sensing a trend here people:

1) No one wants to buy a particular MSM newspaper.
2) Said newspaper sweet talks fellow Left Wing state/federal lawmakers to force (former) readers to buy the paper anyway -- with said taxpayers' tax dollars.
3) Having successfully shed that (pesky) necessity of having to produce objective news coverage that people actually want to buy, said paper is free to infuse as much of its pro-Administration, Left Wing political agenda into its "objective" news reporting.
4) Obama successfully appropriates another chunk of the Mainstream news media.
5) Said newspaper continues with an occasional attack on Fox News as biased, nonobjective, etc. etc.

Hmmmm.....This gives me an idea...If I start a business, and no one wants to buy my product...I think I'm on to something here...Wait, ok , here it is: [...] Can I cloak my good or service in a socio-political shroud of consumer necessity such that Congress would force tax payers to subsidize my failed business venture and keep my completely useless good in production?

Mr. Tierney; are cable news networks, talk radio and the blogosphere also "Lifebloods of Democracy"? Oh wait. That's probably a moot point, because we in the non-MSM media generate a product that people actually want to buy.