VIEWPOINT.

The article author is of the view that all news, whether good or bad, must reach the top of the organization involved quickly. The author was struck by two seemingly unrelated stories that received considerable attention in the national media. In one, senior managers at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were taking body blows because they had not received information about the potential impact of insulating foam striking the wing of the space shuttle Columbia. In the other, the U.S. airline industry achieved record high levels of flight safety. In NASA's case, it would appear that information of the bad-news variety didn't arrive at the level of decision makers who might have acted upon it, had they been aware of its potential life-threatening value.