The trouble with journalism

Dean Baker at the Center for Economic Policy Research cuts to the chase in describing the failure of big-foot journalists in a post today to his blog.

Basically, he says, journalism has been infected by the disease of he-said-she-said, allowing politicians to spout whatever nonsense they want because they know that none of the major media organizations will do anything to place their blathering in context.

The Republicans blamed the economy’s weak job performance in May on the deficit and regulations. Is there any coherent story that they can tell on this or does the WSJ not care?

Suppose the Republicans blamed the weak jobs numbers on the Chicago Bulls loss in the NBA semi-finals. Would this also just be repeated without comment. How about if they blamed it on the color purple? Sure, it’s just a he said/she said world.

For the record, if a serious person made this argument then they would back it up with evidence. For example, firms that make longer hiring commitments would be doing less hiring than firms in industries with rapid turnover. (Try to explain the loss of temp jobs in May.) We should also see a big increase in average hours worked, since this does not require any commitment by employers. (We don’t.)

You’d have thought we’d learn from all the times this failure has led to disaster — the war in Iraq, the economic meltdown and subsequent stagnation — but we haven’t. Baker again:

If reporters did their jobs, politicians would actually have to make coherent arguments when they talked about the economy, instead of just saying whatever nonsense advanced their political agenda.

It’s not an issue of bias, after all; it’s just laziness.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet