The Scandal and the Press

James K. Glassman | August 18, 1998

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(7) How good and how widespread is health care? Are Americans healthier or sicker than they used to be? What role do personal behavior and the environment play?

(8) How is welfare reform -- the only truly important policy change in the Clinton years -- working?

These are need-to-know questions because they affect us all and point us toward the best public policy decisions. In many cases -- the Japanese economy, crime, the budget -- they involve setting the record straight on issues on which masters of pseudo-events, with the complicity of the press, terribly misled us.

They are questions that can be answered by competent news organizations if they choose to divert resources from pseudo-events. And no answer requires speculation about the future -- the bane of pseudo-journalism. Reporters and editors should be content with describing the past and present -- tough enough -- and answering "why," "how" and "what" questions, rather than "what if" and "what next."

Boorstin wrote in 1961, "From the beginning, the great promise of America was to open doors, so that men could try to work out their problems for themselves -- not necessarily alone, but in communities of their choosing, and toward often-uncertain ends which appealed to them."

He's right, but, even with doors opened, we can't work out our problems if we are constantly distracted by pseudo-events. Of course, such deception is precisely the aim of politicians, CEOs and bureaucrats. But why does the press have to play their game?