Keller kudos

Tapscott has it right. The Keller memo is no silver bullet, but it's a well written and thoughtful work. Assuming it's more than a public relations piece meant more for external consumption than internal use, it's pretty good.

There's no for-sure false note in it, although there's a little Keller cutesy sprinkled throughout ("This is not the end of the conversation. But it is, you will be relieved to learn, the end of this manifesto.") This is no crime.

It's interesting that they did disclose it publicly. Perhaps they had no choice, with leaks.

The most important part is the "news/opinion divide" section. The one thing that Keller could have added, to good effect, is explicit discussion of one-word judgments. It's dealt with implicitly, but recognizing and then eliminating one-word judgments is both a relatively easy skill to learn and a powerful bias-reducer. It also makes stories better.

There are a couple of giveaways or near giveaways. There is just a hint of resentment of bloggers and the dread Fox news ("proliferation of critics") that belies Keller's pronouncement of what ought to be every newsman's creed: good news stories. Just do that and let the other stuff take care of itself.

More interestingly, in the "diversity" section, he talks an awful lot about religion. Eight references in two pages. This tracks awfully closely with Hillary's revelation immediately after the Kerry fiasco. I do not say that this is by nefarious design; only that these lefties seem to think awfully similarly.

This focus on the religion bogeyman causes Keller to not quite get to the real issue, although, to his credit, he does at least acknowledge it: If you're going to be a national newspaper, Bill, then you need to understand the range of the national dialogue. That means you need people who don't smirk when they hear viewpoints outside of the "predominantly urban, culturally liberal orientation" of your paper. That isn't "pandering to conservatives," as you put it. It's acknowledging that the views that inform your news room are fatally narrow.

Even so, this memo is an awfully good start. The trick, of course, will be in the execution. Good luck to them.