API Audio - Oregonian Editor Peter Bhatia

API discussed ethics, the New York Times and the FCC with this year's ASNE president.

Well, I think it's up to each newspaper. I mean, the fact that this happened at arguably our best newspaper ought to be one of those teachable moments for journalists and for newspapers to sort of step back and say, "Wow, if this can happen there, it can happen anywhere," which in fact it can. It can happen at the biggest newspaper or the smallest newspaper. And I think that's what's happening that newsroom after newsroom after newsroom, editor after editor after editor are taking the opportunity to stop and say, Okay, where are we on anonymous sources? How good is our internal communication? Are we rigorous enough in our editing processes and so on? So in that sense it's serving a great benefit.

Do you think there's any irony in the fact that newspapers are charged with communicating to the public yet struggle to do so internally?

I do think there's some irony to it. I think all of us muse regularly about the fact that we're in the communication business yet we never do a good enough job communicating internally. But I don't want to overstate that either. I mean, this is a real serious situation, and a real opportunity for newspapers to make a positive out of negative. And if as a result of that we do a better job looking at our internal systems and they improve, then we're the better for it.

Did you expect the resignations of Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd from the NY Times?

Not necessarily, but as time has passed I guess no one's probably surprised it came to this. I'm sorry it's come to this because Howell and Gerald are wonderful people and great journalists. Without knowing anything more than they've stepped down, I can see how it would have come to this point, yes.

Do you see the issue with the New York Times as being more ethical or managerial?

I think it's all the above. I think as their reporting on this showed, there were failures in leadership and management as well as in editorial and administration, so there were kind of across-the-board failures in that regard, with regard to Jayson Blair. One thing, though, that I still think remains true is that no one should reflect on this as just being something that could happen at the New York Times. It could happen to any of us. It could happen to any newsroom, big and small. That it happened at the New York Times, at our arguably our greatest newspapers, makes it all the more difficult and all the more sad, and makes it that much more, I think, of a teachable moment for all of us, that all of us can and should learn from. It's a shame that it's come to this for Howell and Gerald but we can all learn from this, that's for certain.

What was your take on the FCC decision to relax rules on media ownership?

You know, I've been of two minds on that from the beginning. On the one hand I very much understand those voices that say it will stifle a diversity of messages, that media will be controlled by a few small companies and as a result the messages will be controlled. On the other hand, this is a country that's based on free enterprise. And the point of view taken by the Republican majority on the FCC is basically one of free enterprise and free competition, and it's pretty hard for -- we're in a business that has arguably been subject to that and has thrived and has crashed at times based on those principles. So it seems to me that it is a two-sided argument, that there are two legitimate -- at least, probably more -- legitimate points of view on that. I think time will tell. I don't have any question that what the critics predict about more joint ownership, particularly TV, radio, cable, newspapers, internet, etc., in communities and bigger companies controlling all of that. I look at it from the point of view of a journalist, and we still have a job to do, and we still have to do the best we can under whatever circumstances are presented to us, and I don't think that role for the journalist is going to change.

You're definitely not going to be bored this year.

That's for sure, that's for sure.