Obama didn’t kill journalism, but he took advantage of it in its weakness, because he knew the press would do anything to feel relevant again. All those 27-year-olds at the Times, the Washington Post and others hired as bloggers—“who literally know nothing,” as Rhodes told the Times Magazine—when the foreign and national bureaus were closed, they didn’t know it wasn’t OK to be a journalist and a political operative at the same time. They thought it made them more valuable, even patriotic, to put themselves in the service of a historic presidency. And they’d replaced for pennies on the dollar all the adults who could have taught them otherwise.
Source: Wayne Barrett and Donald Trump – Tablet Magazine
It is a long article, but worth reading. An autopsy of the American Journalism.
Miguel,
Wow! That long article was very much indeed worth reading. Very compelling arguments from a journalism insider. If anyone wants an unvarnished analysis of why the once-proud free press is now wallowing with the muckrakers, I recommend this article. Thanks!
My pleasure. 🙂
I put the death of the American press at the Clinton administration. Just like “The Boys On The Bus” showed how advocacy press replaced reportage during Nixon’s reelection campaign, the Clinton administration is when advocacy press ditched all semblance of rules or shame to avoid having to see Bush reelected, and then to avoid seeing Clinton lose his own second term, then to avoid seeing Clinton kicked out in shame. A few small lies- just this once, because it’s real important you guys- became, under a constant drumbeat of scandal and corruption, a continuous necessity for lies and propaganda. By the 2000 elections “just this once’ had become “the new normal, and how dare you question it”. Everything follows from the need to put The Big Creep into the White House and keep him there in spite of himself.
“The Boys on the Bus” is a pretty much required book if you want to know why the press is where it is today. After all, the young McGovernite press of 1972 would eventually go on to become the editors, bureau chiefs, and other higher-ups of today’s media.
Likewise, the 24 hour news cycle really became a thing during the Clinton admin, which meant the press has glommed onto the sensationalist “report it now, and get the facts straight later” mode. With the rise of the internet, this has become the modern “click bait” headline.