Not too long ago, I worried about the economics of 21st-century campaign journalism, as we had entered an era when a fast blog item on a new Colorado poll might get more online clicks than three days of intense reporting from the Denver suburbs. Obviously, the Grim Reapers from the accounting department are still out there.
But what 2012 taught me is that quality political reporting can flower even in forbidding or unlikely terrains. So, without getting too maudlin, let me lift a glass to the campaign reporters and editors at the Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed, who this year embodied hope and change in journalism.
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Buzzfeed is a clown outlet. What ever became of that "riot" at U of Miss? Did Buzzfeed ever retract or correct it? No. CJR is a clown outlet too, as long as CJR keeps promoting clown outlets and the trivial non-stories and hackery they publish. How about some hard journalism, like wtf is the real timeline behind the Israeli aggression on Gaza? And wtf is up with the timely resignations of so many Obama admin peeps right before Benghazi subpoenas are served? Wtf about those drone assassinations, nullification/10th amendment challenges, Rand Paul's NDAA filibuster, etc? CJR get to work, review REAL stories, real journalism w/o naked partisan rah-rah and fluff. Stop being a smoke screen for cripes sake. Grow a pair already.
#1 Posted by Growsome Ballzalready, CJR on Fri 16 Nov 2012 at 07:41 PM
Sorry, but the L. A. Times is a clown operation, too. Basically Shapiro is praising its reporters for thinking like Democrats - not much of a stretch - in deciding that 'gaffes' by Romney or his supporters were Big News, while ignoring the effects of Obama-esque policies on, well, California, where the job growth has stagnated and unemployment remains well above the national average.
The relationship of the establishment media in California to the political establishment raises, not for the first time, the question of the ability of elite news outlets to genuinely criticize members of their own class. The problem is most acute in Washington itself. Most members of the public are unaware that, according to the latest Census, seven or eight of the ten richest counties in the United States happen to be in the DC metro area. It's a fair guess that the proprietors and editors of the leading news organizations in the counry live there - or in another enclave of wealthy Democrats, Manhattan. You think those editores, puiblishers, and other journalists are going to seriously question the acquisition of power and resources by their neighbors, friends, and loved ones? It's easier to objectify genuine outsiders, like Tea Partiers. The 'class' aspect of journalism, I notice, is seldom explored by CJR, though a liberal like Daniel Moynihan could identify journalism as a 'leisure class' profession decades ago.
#2 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 12:51 PM