PressEthic

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ventured into the big, scary world of the Middle East by sending its version of Edward R. Murrow to Tehran: Sean Penn. He wrote about toilets. In all things, you get what you paid for.

The question is what the Chronicle meant to accomplish by this. In covering the culture of a fundamentalist state, they turn to ... Spicoli?

The draw for the paper isn't the chance to inform the public and explore Iranian life – it’s the chance to have Sean Penn explore Iranian life. If he finds the toilets interesting, the Chronicle assumes its readers will find Sean Penn finding toilets interesting interesting. If he’s bummed that he can’t smoke like the other guys in a line, then the Chronicle assumes that readers will be bummed for Sean Penn.

Putting aside the unique case in California of actors deciding that they won't be satisfied to just play a role on TV (a film series of Californian Governors would include such hits as Bedtime for Bonzo and Kindergarten Cop), the Chronicle is doing its readers a disservice by tackling a big issue with such gimmicky schemes. If the Chronicle's mission was to provide clear insight into a turbulent landscape, it would have sent one of its many fine foreign reporters to the scene.

But here, the Chronicle's mission wasn't to inform. It was to make itself the news. Putting names on the marquee might work well for Hollywood, but it doesn’t work so well for news organizations. Sure, bylines like Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese sell issues, but that's because they are known for their reporting and writing – not for their ability to cry on cue.

I wouldn't trust Tom Hanks to cover the local police beat, Julia Roberts to opine on John Roberts or Denzel Washington to really explain the implications of the latest city council meeting. And with the news, the real selling point is trust.

By running Sean Penn's series, the Chronicle has taken away the chance for a real foreign news reporter to explore this issue. And for that, the public suffers.