Public News, Private News

What do you think when you hear an NPR finance anchor ask a guest commentator “In the interest of full disclosure, do you work for or own any of the stocks we discussed?” If you are a cynic, you think: if he likes that stock, why doesn’t he buy it? It should mean that the guy is not telling you it’s a good buy so he will make money when the listeners buy it and its value goes up. It is an honor system that he is telling the truth.

While we may choose to believe or not believe NPR or PBS when they tell us the statements they extract from their guests are objective, we do not get that option from non-public news sources. From NBC to Fox, the commercial stations offer us interviews with experts on all sorts of subjects. During the Bush war cheerleading days, we heard retired generals evaluate military strategies. No one asked them to disclose their ties to arms manufacturers and contractors. Most recently, Tom Ridge, once Governor of Pennsylvania and Secretary of Homeland Security, suggested as a TV talking head that President Obama promote nuclear energy. He was not asked by MSBNC’s anchor to disclose that he has earned more than half a million dollars serving on the board of the US’ largest nuclear power company.

Yesterday I heard a presentation by David Warlick. He is a history teacher who has reinvented his career in a neat and geeky way. He seeks to redefine literacy. His New Literacy means not that you can read the page or add the columns, not that you can commit Google on the internet, but that you can vet information, understand you need to question everything, and know how to learn what you need to learn.

So the old folks sit in front of the TV and don't question the statements of a retired general testifying before Congress that a massacre in the Balkans was caused by attitudes about gay Dutch soldiers (huh?). (The Dutch deny it. Who knows where the idea came from.) Would the kids question such a statement if they are Century 21 Literate kids? I hope so.

Until the kids are in charge, perhaps we should think of information as either public or private. There might be truth or fabrication in either but at least today, I know I need to ask and I know a bit more about how to find out.

(C) 2010.03