Barack Obama’s appearance on Jay Leno is not in the A1 lineup
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
At our afternoon stand-up news meeting today, one of our editors asked if President Barack Obama’s appearance tonight on Jay Leno should be one of our front-page stories. At the time, it wasn’t in the four-story lineup — and it still isn’t.
We agreed we’d keep a watch on what’s said and evaluate whether its worth A1. Again, we anticipate it won’t be.
Bob Steele, in his Everyday Ethics column on the media site Poynter.org, appears to share that view. Steele writes:
I don’t have a problem with Jay Leno interviewing President Obama. In fact, I’m fine with it. But let’s not call it journalism.
The Leno-Obama moment is a conversation between a television talk show host and a government leader. It’s worth watching. It’s worth hearing what the President has to say in this type of setting. It’s one more way to get to know what’s inside Obama’s head and his heart.
I hope, though, that President Obama does not diminish the importance of being regularly accessible to journalists. Jay Leno can ask some fascinating — even probing — questions of Obama. We saw that happen when David Letterman interviewed former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Journalists bring different obligations and different knowledge to their reporting. They will ask different questions. Journalists serve a “watchdog” function in our democratic society.
I hope in these turbulent times citizens recognize the unique and essential role that journalism plays in this country. Imperfect though it is, journalism is built on a set of professional and ethical principles that can produce substantive information-gathering and reporting that serves the public interest.
I don’t believe there’s much value in debating who is a journalist.
I do believe it’s worth distinguishing the characteristics of journalism and the unique role it plays in our society.
Jay Leno entertains. Journalism informs.
Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
Steve,good call. But my question is, where are the journalists? I have yet to see any probing research on any of this from the news media. If you ask me, the only journalists around any more on on cable, particularly Fox News. They have the most indepth coverage on most topics. It is the go-to place for most news coverage. The AP just reports the news and very lamely at that, and the newspapers just print the wire stories without adding to them or questioning their content.
“Journalists bring different obligations and different knowledge to their reporting. They will ask different questions. Journalists serve a “watchdog” function in our democratic society.”
You could have fooled me Steve, I thought journalists were parrots for George Soros.
Acentric says. “If you ask me, the only journalists around any more on on cable, particularly Fox News.”
This explains a lot.
As to President Obama’s appearance on the Leno show, why would this be news? Now coverage of the President’s two Town Hall Meetings the past two days does deserve coverage.
By the way, I gave up watching our local Fox News channel when John Pertzborn and Randy Naughton kept saying that Steve Fossett had circumvented the globe in his balloon. I saw it on their first broadcast of it, called in to get them to change it to “circumnavigate”, but they continued to have Fossett “circumventing” the globe.
Apparently no one at Fox had a dictionary. If they did not have time to correct it, then I surely do not have time to watch them.
Leno still has a show?
I heard that Obama told Jay that he bowls like a retard. No wonder that wasn’t on the front page.