Political Reporting, the Government, and Social Security

"The fact is, and the problem is, that the remaining political reporters do not do much probing, context, nonsense detection and, sometimes, pointed interaction. Increasingly, they trumpet the agenda and legislation of the Democratic party and the current administration."

This just set off my nonsense detector. Maybe they honestly think that the statements of the tea-baggers and their Republican fan club are just as legitimate as those of the Democrats and the current government. Maybe in some sense they are, but when the former governor of Alaska and Rep. Bachman of Minnesota's statements are taken seriously even though they could be considered laughable by a well-read sixth grader, and when the tea-party's members show language skills that a six-year-old should be ashamed of, taking their statements seriously is not the sign of the best of the journalistic profession. For one thing the journalists involved seem to think for them to express any opinion or judgement on what people say is veering into partisanship. It should also be pointed out that while most reporters and writers have been more on the left than the right, most of the owners have been on the right. Of course people on the right do not accept that, because the only sort of "professional" journalism for them involves the complete acceptance of everything the people on the right say.

Christopher Hobe Morrison of NY 2:53PM July 26, 2010