Radio show correction

In comparing blogs with newspapers last night I suggested that one factor in newspaper credibility is that they could lose their licenses with deliberate misreporting. Somebody brought the question to my attention. I was going on memory from WW1 censorship. However, what publishers lost in WW1 was the right to use the mail service. I don’t know that newspapers have any license other than a general business license. As soon as I googled the question, I found that other countries do license papers, but we don’t have a ministry of communication, unless you count the FCC.

Broadcasters of TV and radio have licenses, but that’s because the airwaves are public domain. They in effect lease the signal frequencies and the government can set some terms for usage. But I know of no similar controls on newspapers, other than regulations and such.

Maybe Hank or somebody can enlighten us on what regulations do impact newspapers and what the remedies the government has re content, if any. Is there a special office of the Dept. of Consumer Affairs which governs papers?