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August 20, 2005
Posner vs. Keller
Bill Keller of the New York Times has openly attacked Richard Posner's essay that appeared in the July 31 edition of the New York Times Book Review. Posner noted the precipitous decline of newspaper readership, and proceeded to analyze the stresses and strains becoming apparent in the MSM in light of the competitive pressure being applied by the new media, particularly blogs.
Keller will have none of it, and basically accuses Posner of being incapable of understanding the special status that Keller thinks the MSM deserves:
The saddest thing is that Judge Posner's market determinism leaves no room for the other dynamics I've witnessed in my 35 years in newspapers: the idealism of reporters who think they can make the world better, the intellectual satisfaction of puzzling through a complicated issue, the competitive gratification of being first to discover a buried story, the pride in striving to uphold a professional code of fair play, the quest for peer recognition and, yes, the feedback from attentive and thoughtful readers. He makes no allowance for the possibility that conscientious reporters and editors are capable of setting aside their personal beliefs or standing up to their advertisers (and the prejudices of their readers) to do work they believe in.”
The two most important points about what Keller is saying here are: 1) Keller clearly abhors any hint of "market determinalism". What he's referring to is competition, of course. This is special status writ large: Bringing News To The Public is the job of professional journalists, a calling evidently closer to academic intellectuals (with their shield of tenure) than to ordinary jobs in the market economy. 2) First in Keller's list of special considerations is "the idealism of reporters who think they can make the world better..." And exactly how does a journalist "make" the world better? Whose "better" are talking about? Who gets to define what a "better" world is? I'd love a world in which there is no designated hitter, where cretinous drivers didn't run red lights, and in which I never had to hear rap music again. Is that the world you had in mind Mr. Keller?
Of course every reporter and editor has some inherent prejudices, but I want no part of news journalists wanting to change the world. Keep it on the editorial page, and off of the front page.
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Comments
Good post, there is a laughable yet eerie element of Keller's comments. It's sad in a way like how lots of people look away from someone who is totally embarrassing themselves in public. It's a melt down and a complete draining of credibility, which the MSM has claimed as their primary gold measure and driving force for so many years. Being exposed for that lie is the most painful fear and now reality that the MSM must now face.....................
Posted by: steve at August 20, 2005 10:50 PM
Laughable yet eerie is right. And maybe add in "worrisome", cause there's a long way to go. This kind of bald-faced admission by Keller is proof that they are panicked, but their usual reaction is to just move on to the next news item. They are nothing if not persistent: they lost Rathergate, but then there was Gitmo, and then Wilson/Plame/Rove, now Cindy Sheehan. Their strategy is victory through dumb repetition--kind of a media human wave assault.
Posted by: Jeff at August 21, 2005 02:48 PM
