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No one is in greater need of forthright new year’s resolutions than
big media outlets. In a constructive spirit, therefore, here are some
resolutions for them in 2006.
* Daily newspaper editors:
Just about every paper has a “Business” section, where the focus is
on CEOs, company managers, profit reports and big-time investors. But
a lot more readers are working people -- and a daily “Labor” section
would be a welcome addition to the newsprint mix.
* Public radio executives:
As a counterpoint to the daily national program “Marketplace,” public
radio can widen its news repertoire by developing a show called
“Laborplace.”
* Editors of the Wall Street Journal editorial page:
Take another look at “The Wealth of Nations,” where your hero Adam
Smith shared the kind of insights that you often scorn. “It was not
by gold or by silver, but by labor, that all the wealth of the world
was originally purchased,” he wrote. And consider what Smith observed
about manufacturers and merchants, the kind of special interests your
editorials routinely tout as synonymous with the public interest --
“men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the
public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress
the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both
deceived and oppressed it.”
* Local TV news producers:
Instead of obeying the unwritten rule “If it bleeds, it leads,” try
doing actual journalism to inform viewers about what’s really
important for the future of their communities.
* Top editors at the New York Times:
Lately, you’ve had staggering impacts on history with acts of
commission and omission. First you put bogus reports about Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction on front pages. Then, after helping to
start a war, for more than a year you held onto vital information
about domestic spying by the National Security Agency before
publishing it. Now, try to develop institutional remorse for
jettisoning basic journalistic principles to the benefit of the Bush
administration.
* Editors, People Magazine:
The lure of celebrity may be irresistible. But unless you change the
name of the magazine to “Famous People,” isn’t it very misleading to
convey the assumption that the people most worth reading about are
usually movie stars, top-grossing musicians and the like? Work harder
at looking for fascinating people, regardless of wealth or fame.
* Terry Gross, “Fresh Air”:
If you want to continue with over-reliance on reporters from
mainstream corporate-owned news outlets like the New York Times and
the Washington Post, you don’t have to act like they’re practitioners
of fearless journalism. Try asking them tough questions about
standard media evasions.
* National cable news programmers:
Reporting a new tragedy is one thing, but fixating on it is another.
Resolve to spend less time filling TV screens with the latest grisly
story from someplace in America.
* Thomas Friedman:
Try writing columns and books without simplistic metaphorical
anecdotes that are much less profoundly insightful than you think.
* Bill O’Reilly:
Carefully listen to the archival footage in “Good Night, and Good
Luck.” If you don’t notice your strong resemblance to Sen. Joseph
McCarthy, ask someone who doesn’t work for Fox to explain it to you.
