David Sirota: Journalism's parasites

[OhioChick]

April 16, 2010, 5:15AM

No matter how much this week's Pulitzer Prize triumphalism hides it, the fact remains that journalism these days is "a disaster," as Ted Koppel said recently. And unfortunately, retrospection dominates the news industry's self-analysis. Like dazed tornado victims, most media experts focus on what happened and why, oh lord, why?

The queries are important, though just as critical are two prospective questions: 1) If, to butcher a Chinese aphorism, every crisis is an opportunity, then who is making an opportunity out of journalism's current crisis and 2) are those opportunity-maximizers actually parasites destroying journalism for the long haul?

The answer to the initial question is three groups, starting with the Access Traders. These are reporters like The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter and NBC's Chuck Todd, who, while covering politics for major media, are also signing separate contracts to write books chronicling White House gossip. Facing a crisis in audience share, these correspondents' employers encourage the double-dip opportunities, hoping book exposure will result in residual attention. But the simultaneity is problematic: As the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz notes, hard-hitting stories in these reporters' day jobs "might alienate potential (book) sources and flattering ones might loosen tongues."

The dynamic's deleterious effect on journalism is obvious.

"The oozing conflicts lead to things like a glowing New Yorker profile of (Obama aide) Rahm Emanuel followed by an even more one-sided love letter to (Obama aide) Larry Summers, both from Lizza," says Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald. "It's what causes Alter to proclaim one day – when Obama favored it – that real health reform 'depends on whether Obama gets approval for a public option' only to turn around – once Obama said (the public option) was unnecessary – and proclaim that the left is foolishly obsessing on the unimportant public option. And it's what leads Todd, in the form of 'covering the White House' for NBC, to serve as an amplifying vessel and justifier for whatever the White House happens to be saying."

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/04/journalisms_parasites.html

[Tutankhamun]

1. Alter's flip flop on the importance of the public option is an excellent example of journalists'

current lack of integrity. As for MSNBC''s Chuck Todd, I've often wondered when and why he became such a shill. I think his problems go beyond mere capitulation for the sake of access. Self-serving deceit seems an ingrained part of his personality. One thing he will never do is rock the boat, unless it has already been rocked and it's clearly sinking. Then, he'll make sure everyone sees that Chuck Todd is rocking the boat.

[DAMANgoldberg]

2. Excellent Article...

also listen to his radio show M-F 7-10A Mountain Time (9-12N ET) at www.am760.net in Denver. BTW, Get healthy Jay Marvin, we need you back in the game!