Editorials properly call on public officials to be responsible and not simply to pander to whatever public opinion may be. Leadership and pandering are not synonymous, these editorials say with accuracy. Public officials often respond, We’re giving the public what it wants.

The same lesson applies to the media. In the national soap opera that is now taking place involving the White House, too often rumors are made into headlines and major television or radio stories, and a charge made by someone that is legitimate news, that ought to be on page six and maybe ignored in the nightly reporting receives much greater attention than international news of genuine significance.

When media leaders are asked about this, they respond, We’re giving the public what it wants.

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There is an unspoken preamble to the sentence by both public officials and media leaders to that sentence. What both sides are saying is, We know it’s irresponsible, but we’re giving the public what it wants.

This is not a new phenomenon in either field.

The O.J. Simpson trials probably received 1,000 times as much media attention as the fall of the Berlin Wall. Which is more significant in our lives is clear. The media should do more than cater to our whims.

I was pleased to note that U.S. News and World Report has been devoting about one-third as much attention to the President’s personal difficulties as Time and Newsweek. And my guess is that in the long run that will become a plug for U.S. News, even though it may not build circulation now.

But the temptation to use temporary public support as a defense is not isolated to the media. When supporters refer to the President’s current popularity in the polls, is should be noted that such polls also showed Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge popular during their presidencies, and Harry Truman unpopular. Today almost all historians are in agreement that Truman was one of the better presidents and Harding and Coolidge were among our weakest presidents.

Public officials and the media should forget the polls and simply try to do a responsible job.

director, SIU Public Policy Institute

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