Don’t Mourn the Washington Post’s Decline

Information is richer and more accessible than ever

Letter to The WSJ.

"I have a lot of respect for Peggy Noonan, and I share her view expressed in “A Lament for the Washington Post” (Declarations, Feb. 7) that a robust, inquisitive press is an essential part of a functioning democracy. But I don’t see the end of the Washington Post (if that’s what happens) as much of a loss.

The journalism practiced by the Post in recent years has mainly been of the sort lately taught in journalism schools. Woke, ideological, biased—a loyal ally of the Democratic party. It told us Russia-gate was real, ignored Joe Biden’s decline, hewed unquestioningly to the establishment line on Covid, and reportedly had at least a dozen reporters covering climate change, all reporting the same deeply flawed story as “settled science.” The death of that sort of journalism is something to celebrate, not mourn.

The information ecosystem is vastly richer and more accessible than ever. There is plenty of misinformation on social media. But it also conveys facts, often supported by real-time video, and instantaneous access to underlying truth. You can read the report, watch the congressional hearing, listen to the cockpit voice recording. It’s all there, in real time. This is the way to hold government accountable.

Ms. Noonan is right to call out the media executives leading Big News for their failure to adjust to the technological realities of the 21st century. But most of them fail because they are incumbents, not new entrants, managers, not entrepreneurs. They lack the vision to imagine a path forward and the incentive to change.

Journalism, like any other craft, is constantly evolving. In every era it has had strengths and weaknesses, virtues and faults. The reality is that every human being sees the world through his own unique lens. Better to live in a world where freedom of expression is ubiquitous than one where the “truth” is told to us by a few ennobled journalists.

Jeff Eisenach

Nonresident senior fellow

American Enterprise Institute"