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No excuse for poor journalism

Note: Jay Rosen is after the administration's misbehavior. Misbehavior deserves to be labeled and exposed. But what is the problem?

Dear Jay,

I tried to address an issue with a friend last week and fell afoul of the influenza responsible for most of the the election year blue-red fracture: Simply stated, it's that two-step logic is beyond discussion. "If A, then B" requires willingness to consider the possibility of A. No one seems capable of accepting a hypothetical, even if only conditionally, and only for a moment.

If you can't address two steps, everything becomes sound-bite simple. It's sound-bite simple to say the administration isn't giving the press that covers it any respect. It becomes the whole problem. If you are Ken Auletta, you write about it. If you are Jay Rosen, you write about it.

They state a fair case, so far as it goes. They conclude some portion of the White House Press Corps ain't gettin' no respect. But, does the press that covers the administration deserve respect? Suppose it is a two-step problem? What about the other half?

Look at it this way. Why would members of the administration go to extraordinary measures to bypass the established press? If it were only a one-step problem, mendacity is often attributed to Karl Rove, and stupidity is often attributed to George W. Bush -- but those require critics to give the administration credit for initiative, organization, management, and energy and critics don't give the administration credit for much of anything.

But let's consider two steps. Suppose the answer to problem number one is to address problem number two. Suppose the administration simply reacted to the way it was treated. Who should report how the administration is treated by the press that covers it? Who should do it? The New York Times? CNN? CBS? ABC? If they won't, how about you?

Now, my anti-Ashcroft credentials are impeccable. They began back in 1998 with hard letters and editorials against his anti-flag-burning amendment. But, if that's the platform you're using to make your case. I'm going to have to stand in your way. While you are correct to decry the way the press has been ill-treated, and correct to score the administration for its behavior, nothing will get better until you address poor journalism. Poor journalism is the problem. The administration's action is the symptom of it.

And if, in the end, Rove is a villain, and Bush is what is said of him, that still gives the press that covers them no excuse for practicing poor journalism.

[Tightened up 2/26/2005.]

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