Creating some distance
It may or may not have any meaning, but we’ve noticed some veteran figures in the elite media have a problem with their profession’s adulation of the Democratic ticket in the last election. (Now they tell us.)
Mark Halperin of TIME referred to the “extreme bias” of the media, and called it “disgusting.” Evan Thomas of Newsweek recently referred to a “slightly creepy cult of personality” that went unremarked in the last election cycle.
So perhaps this is what reporting has become. First, cheerlead during the election season. Second, express regret for being in the tank, and use colorful language in doing so; that way, people will know that you really, really mean it when you condemn what you’ve been doing for the last year.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Credibility takes a long time to establish, but a short time to lose. Take Dan Rather as an example. He had a long career, and went out in disgrace.
Bush failed to call these guys on their lies, which went a long way toward making his administration less effective than it could have been. They don’t have enough time left to establish any sort of credibility with me.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Looks like Halperin is manuvering from media sycophant to principled journalist. I think we’ll find many journalists heading that way soon but it’s a little late for that since they can’t be trusted to do probing journalism before an election.