Have you heard? After some heated exchanges between The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank and The Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney during yesterday’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz on CNN (see footage below)? Pitney says Milbank called him a “dick.” Everyone’s totally talking about it. And? There’s a Twitter hash tag (#dickwhisperer) for further discussion of it.
Last week, Katia weighed in here on the events that led to This Angry Moment. Over at Swampland, Michael Scherer has, to my mind, a comprehensive and fair recap of what brought us to This Moment (a Moment where, I agree, both Milbank and Pitney look small), isolates some of the worthwhile questions raised (there are some!), and tells us what he, as a White House reporter, has taken away from it all (which makes sense — promise— after reading the recap):
For me, the most interesting unanswered question is this: As the media becomes more fragmented, and reporters increasingly represent niche audiences, how can (or should) the White House press corps contain the President’s ability to tailor the subject matter and tenor of his press conferences with the people he calls on?
Yesterday’s Reliable Sources segment:
Pitney's real (and only) mistake was to show up the stenographic WhiteHouse pressCorpse for the hacks, shills and hagiographic acolytes that they (except possibly helen Thomas) all indisputably are--which is, of course, NO different than what their editors and owners want them to be.
An active, enterprising press is the bane of the CorpoRat State. that's why it was bought up, gutted, and silenced over the last 30 years (Time is irrelevant to the monied interests).
In the Corporate State, "corporate" media ARE the State Media!
#1 Posted by Woody, CJR on Mon 29 Jun 2009 at 12:33 PM
you are right about swampland's take. But skip the puny post by scherer and read the enraged comments.
(And in fact, skip Swampland if possible; or make sport with just reading the comments of people who get stuck in the,... uh...)
#2 Posted by still sorry, CJR on Tue 30 Jun 2009 at 12:32 AM
how can (or should) the White House press corps contain the President’s ability to tailor the subject matter and tenor of his press conferences with the people he calls on?
'
IN the first place, what is behind this smug, self-righteous attitude that WH reporters are entitled to "contain" the President's "ability" to do anything? They are there to report on what the President says and does, and we hope with some astute analysis and BS-calling when appropriate. They aren't there to "contain" anything.
Secondly, you, and every other media maven, has thus far given Milbank a pass for his "collusion" accusation, a false and inflammatory charge without a shred of evidence. You are afraid to criticize a Postie, perhaps, for fabricating and ginning up false accusations? What kind of "media watchdog" are you?
It seems to me you are just spreading gossip.
#3 Posted by James, CJR on Tue 30 Jun 2009 at 09:45 AM