Newspaper Ethics

"The very concept of news celebrates newness. The value of news, like that of any other commodity, consists primarily of its novelty, only secondarily of its informational value. ... [T]he news appeals to the same jaded appetite that makes a spoiled child tire of a toy as soon as it becomes familiar and demand a new one in its place." --Christopher Lasch, The True and Only Heaven

I read the NYTimes headlines in because my colleagues guilt-trip me into thinking that it is an important and responsible activity. The fact is, though, that people who complain that all news is negative are complaining about the wrong thing: I complain that the news exists, or, perhaps it is better to say I complain that people attend to it.