It's no secret that we in this business have a credibility problem. You could fill a good-size bookshelf with the reports that have been produced over the last decade or so by scholars and journalism organizations on how to restore our credibility.

To be completely truthful, the solution to this problem is only partly within our control. There is a cynicism abroad in America nowadays that is as thick as the clouds of smoke and ash that have been issuing the last few days from Mt. St. Helen's. And on the basis of some of the phone calls and e-mails I routinely receive, it's clear that a certain highly vocal percentage of Americans is cynical because they like being cynical--it's what they do, it's who they are.

But some of what hurts newspapers' credibility is clearly within our control, and our retreat from verbatim presentations of important public statements is part of the problem and symbolic of the whole.


And so, a modest proposal: Why not try it once a week? Take a page in some part of, say, the Sunday paper, label it "Verbatim" or "For the record" or some such thing, and print there the text of one or more major speeches or reports or documents that were in the news the previous week.