DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711130496

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   62 lines

JOURNALISTS MUST PROVIDE A BALANCE, EDITOR SAYS

America's connection with the news media is akin to the public's stake in having good doctors and police, suggests James Fallows, editor of the weekly magazine U.S. News & World Report.

All three professions are involved in life-and-death issues - and in journalism that translates to the vitality of democracy, he says.

That's why Fallows, who spoke here Wednesday, says journalism needs reform, to make it useful as well as entertaining to citizens.

``Our task is to make what matters interesting,'' Fallows said. ``If what we serve up doesn't matter, then it's just entertainment.''

Fallows, who spoke to the Central Business District Association of Virginia Beach, campaigned for reform in his 1996 book, ``Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy.''

His point is that too much of hard-news journalism emphasizes crime and political squabbles while providing little space for the successes in communities.

Fallows said that he does not want to ignore the corruption and failures of government, but that news must provide a balance.

Too much emphasis on the negative, Fallows suggested, is dangerous to both democracy and the news media. More of society's problems ``could be offset if reporters, writers, editors took a different view,'' he said.

The news, Fallows said, also presents politicians too frequently ``as if they were pro wrestlers, striking ferocious poses, dressed up in outlandish gear . . . beating their chests for a staged showdown.''

The over-emphasis on the bizarre, he said, also has a negative impact on a democratic society by discouraging people from participating in civic life.

Journalism should not be about ``just the fisticuffs,'' Fallows said. ``We need to be more clarifying and explanatory . . . and useful.''

Yet journalists cannot reform the news media alone, he said.

As a business, the news media often are caught in a ``Faustian bargain'' by having to pay attention to what sells. ``It's an obstacle course we're trying to run,'' he said.

For example, U.S. News & World Report devoted a cover story to retired Gen. Colin Powell's efforts to spur more volunteerism earlier this year. But that turned out to be among the lowest-selling issues of the magazine since Fallows took over as editor last year.

Meanwhile, an issue featuring the accidental car-chase death of Princess Diana was the largest seller, outpacing the volunteerism topic by tenfold, Fallows said.

``Should we lead people or follow what they say they are interested in?'' he asked.

Fallows said he has looked at ideas to reform the news media, including public or civic journalism, which tries to involve more views and activities of ordinary people. He also would like to see a revival of 1960s and 1970s experiments with community press councils - advisory boards of citizens set up by the news media.

But the problem, Fallows said, is that an advisory board can turn into a grievance panel dominated by special interests.

James Fallows will appear on local television on Joel Rubin's ``On the Record'' at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on WVEC Channel 13. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Editor James Fallows says journalism needs reform, to make it

useful as well as entertaining to citizens.

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