Why journalists deserve low pay
The demise of the news business can be halted, but only if journalists commit to creating real value for consumers and become more involved in setting the course of their companies.

is causing a bit of a stir, mostly because telling journalists that they’re overpaid hacks is always good for a kerfuffle. And its main point, that journalists will get paid more if they create more things that people are willing to be paid for is both valid and as obvious as Parcells’ observation that you are what your record says you are. And his solution—in an age when you’re competing globally, you’ve got to find your niche—isn’t exactly groundbreaking. But I’m more interested in Picard’s assertion that the only way to value journalism is to look at it in terms of the market—that is, journalism is only worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Moral philosophers differentiate intrinsic and instrumental value. Intrinsic value involves things that are good in and of themselves, such as beauty, truth, and harmony. Instrumental value comes from things that facilitate action and achievement, including awareness, belonging, and understanding. Journalism produces only instrumental value. It is important not in itself, but because it enlightens the public, supports social interaction, and facilitates democracy.

Economic value is rooted in worth and exchange. It is created when finished products and services have more value – as determined by consumers – than the sum of the value of their components.

Where this misses the point, though, is that it assumes the market is always correct in assigning value. This is the same reasoning that leads banks to pay staffers millions of real, actual dollars in compensation for (as we now know) imaginary value created. Value isn’t absolute; it’s tied to perception—you are what people think you are.

Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, 2009, by Yayoi Kusama

A low-flying commercial airplane escorted by military jets Monday morning sent workers worried about a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks fleeing their offices in the New York City area. A jet flew low over the Hudson River and circled several times, causing some evacuations of office buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J.

Holy Crap, right? Workers were concerned:

At around 10 a.m. EDT, the plane was seen flying low over lower Manhattan and at one point was seen circling the Goldman Sachs Tower in nearby Jersey City, N.J. Several buildings in the area were evacuated although workers quickly returned after it became clear that the flyover was planned in advance. There were reports that employees in skyscrapers throughout the area fled without prompting as word spread.

But, not to worry:

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said it was part of a “photo op.” The U.S. Defense Department is conducting a “photo op” that involves deploying two F-16 fighter jets escorting a Boeing 747 in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters.

Still, my question is, what sort of thing is the defense dept. filming here? A recruiting video?

To those who say that now our enemies aren’t going to abide by the Geneva Conventions: They will, if they know there is going to be retribution.

—John McCain, who favors doing nothing to members of the Bush Administration who violated the Geneva Conventions.