The News Media Works, No Thanks To Dysfunctional Public Officials
Don’t look now but we have living civics lesson of how our system works.
As early as 10 months ago, elements of the government, the real estate industry and the homebuilding companies were complaining about incessant media coverage of a possible meltdown in the lending industry.
Not only was the homebuilding industry on the ropes, many news organizations reported, but mortgage foreclosures were increasing at a rapid rate. It was so bad that some communities in the west were crumbling and economic uncertainty was around the corner.
There were numerous reports on the subject in the fall and winter of last year. Mortgage industry experts complained of panic reporting. The truth can be painful, but the truth is the truth. Some industry experts were brazen enough to accuse reporters and editors of scare tactics , and reporting a story that really wasn’t there..
We now know that the reporting was right on target and that the so called mortgage meltdown was for real and that American journalism was right on target. Not that anyone in government took it seriously enough to try to head it off.
The bottom line on this story is that American journalism, often under attack for wishy-washy and fashy-trashy reporting, usually is ahead of the curve on the big ones
Remember the mortgage meltdown when some brain-child in government tells you what you should read, hear and see. Companies in trouble and governments in trouble often lie at a disgusting pace..
That’s why our business, often flawed and never perfect, is around with solid reporting when it counts.
I’m guessing that puts folks like you, Larry, out on the streets. And I, like most Americans who get their news from TV, the newspapers and, to quote George W. Bush, “The Internets” don’t want that happening.