Minority-owned broadcasters want a bailout

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124752187967935029.html

WASHINGTON –A group of minority broadcasters asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Monday for financial assistance akin to the aid that has been extended to the financial and auto industries.

"Minority-owned broadcasters are close to becoming an extinct species," the letter said. "Even in better economic times, minority broadcasters have historically had difficulties accessing the capital markets."

This got me thinking.  Why would minority broadcasters “have difficulty” getting investors and borrowing money?

At a hearing last week, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President James Winston told lawmakers that advertisers have severely cut investments in minority audiences at the same time minority broadcasters are having difficulty negotiating loan terms with banks.

Ah, well, there you go.  Minority broadcasters have apparently set up a business model in which they limit their audiences to minority groups.  And then they piss and moan because advertisers don’t want to advertise to such a small audience during a recession. There’s that stupid free market at work again.

Given a choice between changing their business model to appeal to a larger audience that might include Whitey and might woo more advertisers, versus lobbying Congress to get taxpayers to bail them out, I’ll give you one guess as to what these broadcasters did.  Oh, the suspense.

The House letter was signed by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) and a group of key committee chairmen, including Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) and Oversight Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, (D., N.Y.).

They convinced three black dudes and a former gay brothel owner to send a letter to the Treasury Secretary asking him to send them cash. There are an awful lot of D’s in that paragraph.  Just saying.