Praising Krugman; Prizing Old School Journalism

By Kimberly Krautter

This morning, The Body Politic salutes Paul Krugman, the newest Nobel Laureate for Economics, and discusses the need for front line journalism that rises to the level of quality that we routinely get on the editorial pages.

Paul Krugman is better known as a regular columnist for The Gray Lady. His two recent books "The Great Unraveling" (2004) and "The Conscience of a Liberal," (2007) aptly disabuse conventional notions that wanton free-market economics are the foundation of middle class success. With the skill of a journalist, he uses academically weighted evidence to prove that the modern intersection of extremist evangelical politics and neo-conservative policies has done nothing more than weaken the middle class. More importantly, he predicted that those political and policy strategies would lead to the near full collapse of capitalism itself -- as we have seen over the last few weeks.

As an individual, a critical thinker and a leading voice in the national dialogue, Krugman proves that the gutter rhetoric spewed by conservative gas bags like Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity and the rest of the neo-con echo chamber endangers not only our national soul but our national security because it distracts us from the real issues, sharply divides us against each other and keeps our minds off the store (read: the government) and what is being done in our name and in the name of future generations. (Of course the liberal Chatty Kathys like Maureen Dowd, Michael Moore are just as guilty).

I'm all for info-tainment. I'm a big fan of “The Daily Show”, “The Colbert Report” and will even watch Glenn Beck or listen to Neal Boortz from time to time. Yet, it is precisely because our news organizations have tried to chase ratings instead of the truth that they have become little more than info-tainment, and they are losing the ground of influence to TV comedians and radio hate mongers.

BBC America reports that Krugman, a distinguished professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, achieved this high honor because,

"The Nobel jury said Mr. Krugman's work had led to theories that could help explain the effects of free trade and globalisation and the driving force behind worldwide urbanisation.

"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," the academy said in its citation.

"Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced more cheaply in a long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale," it went on.

"Meanwhile, consumers demand a varied supply of goods. As a result, small-scale production for a local market is replaced by large-scale production for the world market, where firms with similar products compete with one another."

While today we celebrate Paul Krugman's Nobel Prize, we must also offer this caution:  The Fourth Estate went into foreclosure about two decades ago. It is good for all interested that a handful of media properties like Krugman, Thomas Friedman, Mark Halperin, Lou Dobbs and the venerable Katharine Weymouth still keep challenging the status quo and add substance to the national discourse. But, the first three are columnists -- what those of us from the old school of journalism used to call editorial opinion writers -- and Ms. Weymouth is a publisher. None are front line journos doing the job of dispatching hard news from the field (although Halperin made the transition from correspondent to analyst in the last few years). 

America and the global interests so dearly tied to her success desperately need journalists who can take the opinions of Krugman et.al. off of the editorial pages and do an unbiased job of dissecting the facts that underpin those opinions so that the body politic can be informed without the taint of slant.

"Slant" used to be as cardinal a sin in news reporting as a typo or burying the lede. These days we have precious few of those who would meet such muster. Christiane Amanpour and Nic Robertson define "trust" with their intrepid journalism that holds all sides accountable. Kitty Pilgrim has been a very strong correspondent on the business beat, but she has been forced to editorialize more and more with her increased participation on Lou Dobbs' show. For a long time she appeared clearly uncomfortable with breaking the rule against slant. However, when caught by the glare of a live TV and when earnestly and doggedly challenged for an opinion by Dobbs, she relented. Now in her role as occasional host of the program, Pilgrm as been forced to regularly express editorial opinion.

Even strident field reporters like Michael Ware and David Mattingly are regularly probed by news desk hosts for comment on the stories they report when doing live cuts. There is a young female war correspondent that I find most impressive, but I cannot recall her name. I've spent the last half hour attempting to search for her name to no avail. Then I realized... it is better that I don't know her name. In the "old days", when it came to news, knowing a reporter by name meant that the reporter, not the story, was the focus of attention.  We need more of this.

So, while I fervently congratulate Mr. Krugman for a well deserved accolade, it is time for fewer opinion writers and more unbiased, unbranded reporting.