No More Bad News

Though not the intent of his article, NYT Op-ed columnist John Tierney, has perhaps suggested a solution to his paper's declining circulation: cut down on reporting bad news.

Specifically, Mr. Tierney suggests that the press generally should stop covering the increasingly deadly and frequent suicide bombings currently rocking Iraq. His point is this, with the bombings becoming a daily event, they're no longer "news". And worse, by reporting about such events, journalists are playing into terrorist's hands.

He also complains that reporting on such stories takes valuable journalistic focus from all the other positive stories that could be written about Iraq. A charming thought no doubt hailing from those heady days in 2003 right after the initial invasion, when reporters could still venture outside the "green zone". Not quite so applicable these days, when the only news coming out of Iraq is whatever's spoon fed to the cloistered reporting pool there.

But be that as it may, Mr. Tierney suggests that the public might welcome a break in all that icky bad war news. Which thought seems to be an organizing principle for the RWCM (right wing corporate media: MSM is just too generous). Else the 24/7 coverage on non-stories like "runaway bride" is inexplicable.

Resignedly, Mr. Tierney does acknowledge press responsibility to cover "suicide bombings in the Middle East, especially when there's a spate as bad as in recent weeks." Um, yes, a spate, I guess that might be news.

But doggone it, it's taking valuable airtime away from Michael Jackson trial re-enactments.