A simple test

Small point before we close down transmissions for the night. I'm listening to the BBC's outstanding spot coverage of the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader appropriately described as "a major, major thug" and "one of the worst men in the world."*

If you were doing journalism, or generally paying attention to the world, in the latter years of the previous century, you know how big a deal that is and why. Thus I propose a simple test. If Karadzic's arrest isn't on the front page of your Tuesday newspaper, then that newspaper -- um, "sucks." Plain and simple. If your editor disagrees, you may use the secret access code to patch him or her through directly.

The Newseum site will be open first thing in the morning if you want to seee how America's Newspapers did. I hope you will all feel free to launch or join discussions about the merits of paying attention to the world outside.

* That's how you describe it in the budget meeting if you need to explain to your deputy managing editor for presentation why this is actually more important than another Batman story. Naturally, in print, you'll attribute those views to Richard Holbrooke and use more measured language on your own.