It’s supremely ironic that the day after the Tribune Corporation declared Chapter 11, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taken into custody by federal authorities on mind-boggling charges such as trying to broker for pay the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Obama. Ironic because it was the Chicago Tribune that uncovered the story. Ironic, also, because the Tribune granted a relatively rare government request to sit on a story. And the government argument – to enable authorities to complete a wiretap of Gov. Blagojevich, rather than break the story and destroy the government’s opportunity to obtain the information – must have been compelling.
I was a business and financial journalist for many years. While with The New York Times (NYSE:NYT), I broke a major story on the punitive settlement against AT&T (NYSE:T) in the original antitrust case between AT&T and upstart MCI (later MCI Worldcom and finally defunct). While the television reporters popped in and out of the courtroom and did their one minute standups outside, I spent days in the courtroom following and reporting on the case. Not only did I know the issues inside and out, but I knew enough to track down the just-dismissed jurors so I could poll them about their decision to award a then-astronomical punitive settlement against the once-sacred “Ma Bell.” It was a heck of a scoop.
So I fully understand the painful decision it must have been for the Chicago Tribune – a decision made at the highest levels – to sit on such a scoop. Knowing what I know, I give the Chicago Tribune tremendous credit for having the integrity and public-mindedness to make this difficult decision. I can guarantee, however, that it was an editorial decision and not a corporate decision. Therein lies the difference between a true news organization and what all too often passes as media these days.
The Tribune has long been an outspoken opponent and critic of Gov. Blagojevich. It has run numerous other investigative pieces identifying serious issues with the governor. And part of the government complaint against Blagojevich outlines a plan by the governor to influence Tribune executives to fire editors he didn’t like (it didn’t work, according to my old journalism school classmate R. Bruce Dold, now chief of the paper’s editorial section), which illustrates the acrimony between the governor and the newspaper.
However, from the start, Blagojevich’s administration has been marked by allegations of corruption, political influence and dealing. Think Tony Rezko. As an Illinois resident, I was not surprised by this complaint (and it’s a complaint, not a formal indictment at this point because no grand jury was involved). I imagine most Illinoisans were not surprised. Yet the allegations of a play-for-pay for a U.S. Senate seat appointment, which is the responsibility of the governor, were shocking, if not positively mind-boggling.
Since it appears the government’s wiretaps caught our governor on tape with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, it appears the Chicago Tribune made the right decision for the people of Illinois, and for nation, for that matter. Breaking the story would have made the wiretaps impossible.
The Tribune’s decision was one that could only have been made by a serious, professional news organization with credibility and perspective. I’m all in favor of the free flow of information and opinion made by the millions of bloggers and erstwhile news organizations. Here I am, posting away! But there are few controls or rules, in the world of posting or casual journalism. Rumors and uneducated opinions far outnumber truth and careful reporting. Objectivity? Please.
It’s highly unlikely that anything but a news organization with highly skilled reporters could have identified the story in the first place, let alone the decision to sit on it. In and of itself, this makes a strong argument for why serious, established news organizations are vital to our society. If the story had been uncovered by or revealed to an Internet pundit or patchwork “news” organization, would they have exercised the discretion shown by the Chicago Tribune? I highly doubt it.
We have 24/7 news businesses on television, cable and the Internet. But even the best of the best are news and information disseminators and interpreters. They are not investigators.
Who has consistently taken the leading role in rooting out news about corruption and wrongdoing? Who was producing articles about wrongdoing at companies like Enron or Worldcom? It was the newspapers, because that’s where serious journalists still live. I’m not saying television reporters or commentators aren’t smart. I’m not claiming Internet postings are useless.
However, their world is a minute-by-minute one. Breaking news rules. Hyperbole and speculation draws better ratings than dogged investigative reporting. Newspapers have traditionally allowed for this kind of careful in-depth analysis that sometimes leads to powerful, important revelations. Who else would pay a reporter for hours of digging that may or may not pay off. When it does pay off, however, it’s often powerful.
The Tribune Company’s Chapter 11 filing indicates many things, not the least of which is the lack of support people have for thoughtful, in-depth reporting. I am guilty of this, as well, having skimmed impatiently through newspaper and magazine articles that seemed to require too much of my time to read, even if they were well-written and carefully crafted. I’m rethinking this practice.
Economic realities dictate that the paper and ink world of the newspaper probably needs to evolve. In some ways this saddens me, because a Sunday morning thumbing through the Chicago Tribune or New York Times is infinitely more relaxing and informative than clicking through articles on my laptop. In the newspaper, you find articles you’d not search for on a website.
This unfolding drama with the Illinois governor should remind us all how much we need news organizations where, somehow, there is enough economic reward to support careful, thoughtful, investigative journalism. Sure, everyone likes to pick on the media, and sometimes it’s deserved. But there are those times when you realize just how important serious journalism, complete with the ethical standards and attention to facts, is to keeping our society informed.
As Sam Zell, the Trib’s relatively new owner, explained, the bankruptcy of the Tribune Company was a perfect storm of declining advertising revenues, high leverage and more. But most of the nation’s newspapers are in trouble. I hope there is a future for serious news organizations to continue their work, handling news in a proactive rather than a reactive manner. - Tad Gage
