There’s been a fair share of political scandals uncovered in the last year. The diplomatic faux pas highlighted by “cablegate,” misuse of campaign funds by presidential hopefuls and of course Anthony Weiner’s infamous photo shoot.
Journalists cover government because, for the most part, it’s easy. Individual officials may try to hide their indiscretion and wrongdoing, but there are many transparency laws that make uncovering controversy relatively simple.
It’s also important. We the citizens wouldn’t know about our leaders’ bad decisions, or their triumphs, without the hard work of the news media.
But government isn’t all that impacts the life of ordinary people. In fact, I’d imagine that most people would say it’s not even the most important part. Whether Democrats or Republicans control Congress is not usually of immediate importance to the average citizen. They’re more concerned with whether or not they will have a job next month.
Covering business is a weak spot in the news, and one that needs to be remedied. Not that there aren’t occasionally excellent stories on corporate America, they just tend to be written after a disaster has happened. Madoff, Enron, sub-prime lenders, all have been gleefully torn to shreds by the press, but only after they were caught. There are some excellent pieces dissecting the recent economic collapse, but it would have been nice to see a few of them written before things fell apart, instead of just trying to pick up the pieces afterward.
A more proactive approach would be difficult. Private companies do not have the same transparency regulations that public organizations do, and uncovering wrongdoing or shady dealings is no simple task. But consider the effort that entertainment journalists can put into divulging every little detail of celebrities so-called “private” lives. What might be uncovered if business journalists put the same kind of rabid exertion into discovering the dealings of a few choice Fortune 500 execs?
I’m not saying we should lay off the government reporting, or that politicians deserve some kind of a break. I’m saying the press should be more than just an extension of government with no real power in the private sector.
It seems that every other aspect of our lives are constantly under intense scrutiny by the press. Education, technology, entertainment; nothing is safe. Isn’t it only fair that corporations, which create and control so many of our daily interactions, get the same treatment?
Jacob Tierney can be reached by email at tierney.record@live.com