The Rotten Relationship

I noted in a previous post how the MSM in recent years has lost its edge, its journalistic chops. For years I admired Time, the NYT, the Washington Post, CBS, et al for being professional and for being willing to call out truth to power. The following comment by a commenter to a Carpetbagger post hits the nail on the head. Glenn Greenwald has been on fire on this whole topic lately, but this comment is pithy. There are no more Woodwards and Bernsteins (except perhaps for Seymour Hersh). Chris Matthews is unwatchable any more (see this). Yes, he's finally seen the light on the war, but to him its all horse race stuff, all political maneuvering, and hardly any substance -- no attention paid to what's RIGHT.

The problem is that they develop their ‘unnamed sources’ and massage them and coddle them until they (the press) become invested in their source’s well-being. The individual status of the press corps members is tied up in their source’s ability to stay in power.

Bob Sowerby has a blog called The Daily Howler that focuses on the blind spots and arrogance of the MSM. I don't read him regularly, but have checked him out of and on for years. I used to think he was a screamer and too tough on the press, but now I see he's been basically right. The chumminess between the big press figures and the powers of Washington is not healthy and has been a big enabler for the disaster that is the Bush years.