A few weeks ago I wrote a column arguing that the government shouldn’t just stand on the sidelines as newspapers around the country lay off reporters and cut content.

The government can act to protect newspapers from Wall Street’s typical pattern of greed.

In addition to public funding for newspaper journalism, Washington could offer tax incentives for investment in newspapers or for the transfer of newspaper assets into nonprofit entities, like foundations, that won’t demand profit margins of 15% or more.

The Rocky is offering “voluntary separation” packages to 20 senior staffers.

Click here.

Dream Team? Rocky columnist Mike Littwin wrote Feb. 6 that wealthy entrepreneur Jared Polis hired a “dream team” of “high-paid lawyers and lobbyists” to defend Amendment 41.  

I don’t know why Polis’ team is any more dreamy than the hired guns attacking Amendment 41. In fact, the Rocky reported Jan. 24 that both sides hired “big guns” to represent them.  

In any case, the phrase “dream team” is laden with opinion, so it’s appropriate for Littwin’s column, but it’s not right for a news story, unless it’s attributed to someone.  

Yet, the day after “dream team” appeared in Littwin’s column, the phrase popped up twice in a Rocky interview with Jared Polis.  

The Rocky told Polis that “very few people can hire the dream team that you’ve hired,” and in another question asked how much he was paying for the “dream team.”  

The Polis interview was tough and interesting. And I wish more Rocky interviews were as aggressive as this one was.  

But the use of “dream team” introduced bias, particularly since it appeared in Littwin’s column the day before.  

I was left thinking that the reporter was trying to suggest that Polis’ wealth is giving him an advantage in the legislative fight, allowing him to hire the best consultants money can buy, while Amendment 41’s opponents can’t do this.  

Maybe this is true, but I doubt it, and it certainly hasn’t been proven.