Journalism's "Public Function"

Published: July 30, 2007, 2:29 pm

Journalists seem to have convinced themselves that they aren't part of a business. Case in point, James Fallows:... as is obvious as soon as you think about it, the press has cultural, social, and political effects beyond the purely commercial. But its managers are being forced to make decisions on the same focused quarterly-returns basis that guides choices at Merrill Lynch or General Motors. Sometimes those pressures for maximized return (and rising stock price) make news organizations more efficient. But in general they weaken or destroy the parts of news systems that affect people in any role other than as shareholders - that is, as readers, viewers, voters, citizens.Whining about Rupert Murdoch's pending takeover of the Wall Street Journal follows at length. (HT: Andrew Sullivan) This is precisely the sort of hubris that leads journalists to think of themselves as some sort of fourth branch of government, with a mandate to act as an ombudsman for society. It would be silly, if

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