Climate Change Policy and the Modern News Media

We know that consumers maximize utility and firms maximize profits. What do government officials maximize? What do reporters seek to maximize? What is the central goal of the New York Times or the New York Post? Educating the public? Entertaining the public? Simply making money? I haven't carefully read this piece on The Media and the Climate Change Policy Debate but it looks important. The media certainly plays a "causal role" in influencing the policy debate and the actual set of policies that are enacted. It is useful to see how a smart insider from the media business views the dynamics of how the media covers events. My one pet peeve is that I would like to see the New York Times hire more PHD economists to do their business and economic reporting. Now, I know from first hand experience that not all economists are good writers. The elite media could certainly choose those individuals who write well but in this age of specialization, I think it would help the media to focus on people with some baseline expertise in what they are talking about and who know how academics use evidence and theory to test hypotheses. In the rush to take theories from "the lab" and turn them into real world policy, we need to have more honest debates about the uncertain consequences of well meaning policy actions --- this true both for macro "TARP" issues today and for climate change policy debates that I hope are coming soon.