Fighting Godzilla

Ever watch old Godzilla movies? In those stories, Godzilla and pals were the result of mutation from nuclear fallout after WWII. Invariably, there’s a scene where the monster is destroying Tokyo and someone suggests using an atomic bomb against him. And the answer is always, “No, that would cause more damage than the monster itself.”

I think that’s basically the debate right now with the financial bailout. Everybody agrees we’ve irresponsibly created a monster, and something has to be done to stop it. The president and some in Congress want to nuke it, while others say handing taxpayers a $700 billion bill would do more damage than the monster itself.

That's a very superficial look, but maybe this is the sort of thing journalists can do right now on a little bit deeper level: Take complex issues and break them down into something readers can understand. We can’t simply take a pass, rely on AP, and say it's too complicated for a bunch of journalists. We can educate ourselves, just as much of America is trying to do. For journalists, sites like Poynter.org are offering all sorts of good ideas to bring the story home to your community. And for background, papers like the Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune are doing a very good job of explaining it all.