MSM mash notes

Most bloggers on the right tend to view the mainstream media with as much trust as you'd accord a pit bull with a string of foam trailing from its mouth.

As a result, most of us respond to the MSM in one of two ways: outright hostility or avoidance.

But, despite the best efforts of the Bolsheviks to burn it down (to use Hugh Hewitt's memorable phrase), the MSM will probably be with us, at least through the end of 2005 and quite possibly for some time after that.

What's more, not all of its editors and journalists necessarily have big political axes to grind (at least not as manically as, say, the ones at The New York Times or CBS).

This being the case, may I offer a modest suggestion—one I believe has as much, maybe more, transformational potential as congressional hearings over Memogate.

Mash notes to journalists.

Some of these folks—particularly at the local/regional level—do have their heads screwed on right and are generally doing a pretty good job of getting out the news that people need. (And even some of the diehard liberals do lapse into sanity from time to time.)

So why not let them know when they get it right?

Post an item on your blog, drop them an email, send them a valentine in the mail next month—or, better still, all of the foregoing.

Most local journalists are woefully underpaid and underappreciated. And most of the mail they get is critical. (In many cases, you really have to wonder why they do it.)

Anyway, I think you might be surprised by the response you get. And, if B. F. Skinner taught us anything, it's that behavior that's rewarded tends to produce more of the same.

Which is more powerful in the long run: The stick? Or the carrot?

Think about it.

UPDATE: The Power Line guys are writing favorable things about the Iraq election coverage of Geraldo Rivera, Christiane Amanpour, The New York Times and even Aljazeera—with a few disclaimers, of course. Captain Ed even offers a tip of the hat to the Gray Lady. Hmmm … could they possibly have taken my advice here yesterday? (Nah … but it's heartening to see nonetheless.) Joe Gandelman—who does occasionally read this blog and is never stinting with a kind word—also commends the Times for its election coverage.