Restraint, ladies and gentlemen. Kindly put down the noose and consider this alternative to lynching an entire profession: Journalism doesn't need more detractors. It needs more practitioners.
While a free press is based on freedom of speech, smart consumerism is built on freedom of choice. Any reader who thinks Newsweek was out of line to pursue the Boorda piece can boycott that publication, or to make it really sting, buy any of its competitors instead. That'll hit Newsweek's publisher right where it hurts - smack in the big fat wallet, baby.
This tactic is much more effective than dissing all journalists, who are being blamed for every societal ill except starting the AIDS epidemic. When in doubt, malign the messenger.
Fortunately, widespread cynicism about the press hasn't dulled the enthusiasm of young scribes. Some of this state's best were honored Wednesday with high school journalism awards from the Hawaii Publishers Association and the Hawaii Newspaper Agency.
Leis and laurels were presented for best editorials, features, news stories, photography and art, and sports coverage in seven districts and in statewide competition. Kaimuki High's Bulldog, edited by Niranda Chantavy and supervised by Barry Masuo, won best-of-the-best accolades. Roosevelt advisor Gary Nakamura, who awakened the Rough Rider after a three-year non-publishing coma, also took a bow.
But it was chicken-skin time when all of the schools' most valuable staffers came up to the stage. Each member had accomplished the same mission possible - informing their peers about campus goings-on via the student newspaper, and doing it well.
The smiling group of lei-bedecked MVSers provided a reassuring Kodak moment for this comparative old-timer. Ah, yes. It's good to know that Hawaii's next generation of writers is already eyeballing this columnist's cozy air-conditioned office at 605 Kapiolani Blvd.
Was I being a masochist? No, just a realist - and a thankful one at that.
When bright, talented and enthusiastic young people become journalists instead of doctors, lawyers or corporate chiefs, they improve the profession. They keep seasoned veterans on their toes and bring fresh ideas to the newsroom. The public profits.
So do journalists all over the world. A scoop is bigger than the individual who breaks it or the communication conglomerate that disseminates it. When a revelation is made, media everywhere silently celebrate. When somebody screws up, the chagrin is shared as well.
DON'T bother being hard on the press, because its members are its harshest critics. Janet Cooke is still being ostracized for fabricating her 1980 Pulitzer-prizewinning story at the Washington Post. No newspaper has hired her since and she ekes out a living as a part-time department store clerk in Kalamazoo, Mich.
There are notorious journalists. There are reputable journalists. But there is never an auspicious time to be a journalist.
Therein lies the job's satisfaction.