Krugman suggests some New Year's resolutions for journalists. Don't hold your breath.

Political operatives have become experts at manufacturing the appearance of outrage. In the last few weeks the usual suspects have been trying to paint Howard Dean's obviously heartfelt comments about his brother's death in Laos as some sort of insult to the military. We owe it to our readers not to fall for these tricks.

• It's not about you. We learn from The Washington Post that reporters covering Mr. Dean are surprised — and, it's implied, miffed — that "he never asks a single question about them." The mind reels.

I don't really expect my journalistic colleagues to follow these rules. No doubt I myself, in moments of weakness, will break one or more of them. But history will not forgive us if we allow laziness and personal pettiness to shape this crucial election.

I've been saying this for years: Yes, reporters are generally lazy. They do the bare minimum, the knee-jerk stories because it's easy. The editors are often lazy, stupid, or sick of fighting with them, and the end result is what you see.

The other factor is personality - or lack thereof. Most male journalists (except for the ones I'm friends with, of course) were real high school geeks. You know, the ones who sat in the corner of the cafeteria with the rest of the outcasts, dreaming of the day they'd rule the world and thus finally prove their intellectual superiority.

You know, like that pimply fat kid in "The Stand" who made the deal with the devil?

Anyway, never underestimate the extent to which journalists' psychological quirks influence your national news.



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