the kicker

"hack theater critics"

Interesting thought from Zephyr Teachout, one time Dean campaign web guru, current techPresident blogger: …post-modern political reporters and bloggers act as hack theater critics, judging performances...
September 12, 2008

Interesting thought from Zephyr Teachout, one time Dean campaign web guru, current techPresident blogger:

…post-modern political reporters and bloggers act as hack theater critics, judging performances not by how they as individuals respond, but by how they believe the mythical “american people,” “independent voters,” and “women” (and most bizarrely “the media”) will respond. The standard role of the most prominent commentator and reporter is theater critic first, fact-checker second, independent questioner a distant third. (The inverted triangle reflects this–five paragraphs of post-modern critique; two paragraphs of fact-checking; an unanswered question dangled like a preposition going nowhere at the end.)

Clint Hendler is the managing editor of Mother Jones, and a former deputy editor of CJR.