THE NATION’S business media have been getting a little gushy over JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. “The Banker Who Saved Wall Street,’’ proclaimed Newsweek. “In Full Stride as Others Fall,’’ proclaimed the Washington Post . Dimon does seem to be a rare success story. But this is also a good time to remind the nation’s business journalists of the dangers of emphasizing heroic-CEO narratives over tough scrutiny of the underlying economy.

The new financial regulations being drafted in semiobscurity by Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee will do more to determine the vitality of the economy than Dimon’s “outspoken, profane, fearless’’ personality, as Fortune described it. But new regulations don’t make for big drama, and therefore don’t get big attention - until something blows up big.

Whatever Dimon’s fate, it’s worth noting that the business media often guess wrong on their heroes. “It isn’t clear whether the deal will enrich shareholders or how the market chaos will play out. But it’s certain that [ Bank of America CEO Ken] Lewis is realizing the epic vision that he has long dreamed of,’’ Fortune wrote last fall. Or not. Lewis, under pressure, announced his retirement this week.

Even if Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, and their brethren guessed right all the time, their CEO-worship would still be misguided. All those seemingly irresistible rise-and-fall narratives are tangential, at best, to the fate of the nation’s economy. And calling attention to flaws in the economy, while serving as a tough watchdog on Wall Street, is the higher calling for the business media.

The failure to prevent the catastrophic collapse of the credit market can’t be entirely, or even largely, laid at the feet of the media. But the nation had a right to expect better warning from the thousands of reporters employed to follow the markets, just as people had a right to expect the same from those who covered the run-up to the Iraq war. Now, as news media face their own challenges, they must serve the public at large and not, in the case of business news outlets, the natural hunger of MBA-subscribers for narratives that aggrandize their bosses.

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