Q: Professor News, did members of the news media see the financial crisis coming?

A: They should have done more sooner. For the most part, the news media were napping until thousands of homeowners fell behind on their mortgage payments and faced foreclosure. That finally made news.

Editor & Publisher, a trade publication for the newspaper business, asked business editors at top newspapers if the mortgage credit mess got enough early coverage.

Yes, they said, and cited stories dating back to 2004 and 2005 that raised red flags about the widespread practice of giving adjustable-rate mortgages to borrowers who previously would not have qualified for a loan.

For example, in May 2005, The Wall Street Journal ran a Page 1 story under this wordy headline: "On the House: As Prices Rise Homeowners Go Deep in Debt to Buy Real Estate — Economists Say Move to Tap Equity May Inflate Bubble."

OK, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today did not ignore the beginnings of what has mushroomed into a national, even global, disaster. The Associated Press — which wholesales news to newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the Internet — also carried some precautionary stories.

But I don't recall reading about a growing mortgage bubble about to burst in local newspapers or hearing about it on network radio or television — not even on the cable news channels, although they carry a lot of Wall Street news.

It's a difficult subject. A

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journalist must understand concepts such as collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps.

The trouble started with sub-prime loans. (Did you ever hear that term before? I didn't.) Then the credit markets started to freeze, the stock markets gyrated and the Bear Stearns financial giant imploded, to be rescued, sort of, by rival JPMorgan Chase with backing by the Federal Reserve.

Now the Republican administration and the Democratic Congress are arguing over what to do. You can guess who wants to streamline the regulations on the financial system and who wants to toughen them.

The Bush administration was relying on the Federal Housing Administration to slow home loan foreclosures, but then Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, which includes the FHA, resigned.

He said he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did not mention the fact that he was under investigation by federal authorities for awarding lucrative housing contracts in the Virgin Islands and New Orleans to his friends.

A couple of weeks ago, this headline appeared on Page 1 of The New York Times: "Can't Grasp Credit Crisis? Join the Club." Reporter David Leonhardt wrote: "I'm here to urge you not to feel sheepish. This may not be entirely comforting, but your confusion is shared by many people who are in the middle of the crisis."

He went on to say: "I spent a great deal of the last few days calling people on Wall Street and in the government to ask one question, 'Can you explain this to me?' When they finished, I often had a highly sophisticated follow-up question, 'Can you try again?"

Leonhardt's candor is refreshing. But journalists are paid to take what is complicated and boring and make it understandable and relevant.

Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Journalism School at Columbia University, told Editor & Publisher: "The sub-prime mortgage story was just hiding in plain sight. It was a get-able story."

What started as a wave of home foreclosures has taken us to the brink of the worst recession in generations. Lemann is right. It was a get-able story. How unfortunate that more of the news media didn't go get it.

Paul Janensch is a former newspaper editor who teaches journalism at Quinnipiac University. His column appears on the first and third Sunday of each month. He can be heard on the five stations of WNPR Connecticut Public Radio, including 90.5 FM in Hartford/New Haven. Send e-mail to paul.janensch@quinnipiac.edu.