According to Jack Blum, a lawyer who worked on the U.S. Senate's antitrust subcommittee during the hearings on the NPA, the ruling demonstrates the act's inherent problems. Once you've had the payoff for the weaker paper, you get more money by folding it, and that's exactly what these people do. He says, 'Let businesses decide what they want to do, let 'em alone, and let nature take its course. He wasn't asked that question, but he chose to address it in a very sweeping way. Bagdikian believes Walker's free-market approach disregards important factors that make the newspaper business different from other industries.
News is a political product.
It is influential in setting the public agenda. That's an issue Walker refused to consider. Common sense and antitrust policy strongly support this approach. Markham is skeptical. I think he's looking for reasons to dislike the transaction.