THE MEDIA'S CREDIBILITY PROBLEM

Writing in The New York Times about the media's credibility problem, Patrick D. Healy has a credibility problem of his own:

So many Americans apparently now see journalists as self-interested, careerist and unprofessional that perhaps it would make sense for media executives to call up another group of bosses who once faced fundamental questions about their product: the makers of Tylenol in the 1980's.

After all, Johnson & Johnson proved that credibility, not to mention market share, could be regained after scandal - in its case, a series of deaths caused by cyanide-laced capsules some 20 years ago.

Healy and eveyone associated with the production of this article are fuckwits. There was no Tylenol scandal, there was a Tylenol crisis. Tylenol's manufacturer's response to the tamperings and subsequent deaths is beyond reproach.

The NYT will have credibility problems as long as such basic mistakes continue to make it past its multiple layers of checking and editing.