IF IT’S NOT NEWS, CAN IT BE A SCANDAL?

IF IT’S NOT NEWS, CAN IT BE A SCANDAL? It is journalists who should attack pork and should attack lobbyists who are paid to lobby their relatives. At least, I can’t think of anybody else who can raise the issue as effectively because politicians on both sides of the aisle have lobbyist relatives. Where are the investigative journalists? One could imagine a daily series that would run forever (less than one story per legislator per year) with examples of pork projects and dubious lobbying. I suggest that one reason why it doesn’t is that there is no “news” to be found out. Everybody (at least in Washington) knows all about these things. There is no secret scandal to be discovered and reported. The same dynamic—that scandal should be news as well as outrageous—probably means that lobbying by relatives is now better established than before. It was raised before the election in connection with leaders on both sides of the aisle (Hastert for the Republicans and Reid for the Democrats) and the subject appears to have been dropped. The subject will have less news value from now on.