Holding the Media Accountable

While I would certainly never go about advocating the falsification of news stories, I'm reluctant to agree hands-down that it's a widespread problem. Aside from the Jayson Blair-New York Times fiasco, and Dan Rather's reporting on President Bush's military service, very rarely does one hear in the media about the falsification of stories. I consider myself a fairly well-informed person, and when I actually have the time to sit down and gather news properly, I try to consume it from several different mediums. I usually read at least one credible newspaper, watch one of the network newscasts as well as the local affiliate from a different network (in Oklahoma, I tend to watch the affiliate I believe has the best weather coverage...that's important to me here), and I browse a few national news sites. From everything I've ever observed, barring a few isolated incidents, the media tends to work properly far more often than it doesn't. The misconception that it's a widespread problem stems from the fact that bad news is far more interesting and profitable than good news. Why should journalists report on business-as-usual? The article noted that 61 percent agreed with the statement that spawned this blog, so I can't fathom what any self-respecting journalist with a shread of common sense would hope to accomplish by falsifying a story. Why would you jeopardize the reputation of your livelyhood when nearly two-thirds of the nation already distrusts you to begin with?

With regard to the second statement of the post, I don't believe that journalists should be licensed, but I do think there should be more scrutiny with regard to their professional output. Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter mentioned above, in his book Burning Down My Masters' House: My Life at the New York Times, argued that his lapses in honesty were the result of a drug problem and mental instability? One would think that a simple background check would've been able to determine that Blair was a short stint in rehab away from plugging a bestseller on Oprah. I really liked the idea of an ombudsman, as mentioned in the article, and think that a mechanism of checks and balances beyond a simple fact checker would go a long way toward curbing the few isolated incidents of outright journalistic fabrication.