Since so many media types are here via Romenesko today, let me clarify exactly what I said at the Inky bloggers panel (and by the way, I was a journalist myself for 20 years).

When I said they should use the wires to cover the city and send reporters to cover the suburbs, I meant real news, not routine stuff. Enterprise stories.

Because the emphasis on city corruption leads people to the erroneous conclusion that the white suburbs are an oasis of ethical purity - and that idea drives the national political debate. “Those people can’t be trusted, you know - just look at all the corruption in the city!” (And you know exactly who they mean: black Democrats.)

It’s time someone showed them what real suburban corruption looks like. You know, “fair and balanced.”

And to skimp on the op-ed pages while cutting news coverage is suicidal. At least give the readers some spirited context for all those wire stories.

The last thing I said to Dan Rubin after the meeting is that newspapers should explore the BMI-ASCAP-SEASAC model for selling online news. Form a consortium where readers pay one annual rate for access to all member papers, and split the revenue according to hits - just as the songwriting organizations do for radio play. Readers would love to pay if it meant they only had one password to remember.

And if papers start competing for readers across the country, we might even see some real old-fashioned newspaper wars again.

A note in closing: While journalists were asking us in accusatory tones about blog accuracy, I brought up (what else?) Judy Miller. One of them who shall remain nameless waved his/her hand dismissively and said, “Oh, Judy Miller! Anyone who knew her knew not to listen to her.”

I didn’t have the heart to say anything at the time, because you could tell they were all pretty depressed.

But it sure would have been nice if all those people had bothered to share that with their readers.