The Stirrings Of The Fourth Estate

For many years now journalism as we knew it has been falling apart. The media was meant to put a check on the abuses of power by the government. Now the norm is for 'journalists' to write government talking points verbatim without care or question. If you are going to all the ritzy parties and hob nobbing with important officials, why would you want to offend them in your articles?

The ultimate party has been the White House Correspondents Dinner. Nearly everyone in D.C. gets together to drink, laugh and network. Stephen Colbert sobered them up a bit with his scathing satirical humor last year. This time around they didn't want reality so up close and personal so they had Rich Little (who bombed) entertain the guests. A few days later, the New York Times had a revelation that maybe this whole thing about government/media bonding wasn't such a good thing.

So they pulled out of going from now on:

NEW YORK Tucked inside Frank Rich's Sunday column in the New York Times is indication that the newspaper will no longer play ball with the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners in Washington, which he calls "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era." He writes that the event "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows....

"After last weekend's correspondents' dinner, The Times decided to end its participation in such events," wrote Rich. "But even were the dinner to vanish altogether, it remains but a yearly televised snapshot of the overall syndrome. The current White House, weakened as it is, can still establish story lines as fake as 'Mission Accomplished' and get a free pass."

Rich mixed this criticism of the press in with regret over the death of David Halberstam this week, who Rich said it would be hard to imagine "yukking it up with Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz and two discarded 'American Idol' contestants" at the dinner. "It's our country's bitter fortune that while David Halberstam is gone, too many Joe Alsops still hold sway," writes Rich, comparing the Pulitzer-winner to the now-forgotten Vietnam War cheerleading columnist.

Glad to see Frank Rich got it. It isn't just about the dinner, the problem goes on for 365 days a year (plus one next year). The Times made a good step forward, but only time will tell if their reporting will become more objective in the coming days, weeks and months. Hiding massive stories before an election because the President asked you to isn't exactly good journalism. So the Times still has a lot of making up to do.