Aaarrrrggghhh.
April 24th, 2007at 06:03pm Posted by Eli
WaPo’s Chris Cillizza confirms his wankery once again in today’s online chat:
New York: The Fourth Estate check/balance function Halberstam and the best journalists of his generation fulfilled are exactly those that have been so fundamentally abandoned, repudiated and scorned by our nation’s most prominent and influential media stars. Why do you think the Halberstams of yesteryear appear to have morphed into the “off-the-record” Russerts of today?
Chris Cillizza: I disagree with the premise.
While there is no question that David Halberstam’s work was groundbreaking and is credited by many with creating a sense that the White House wasn’t shooting straight with the American people, I think modern journalists are doing their very best to emulate that sort of reporting.And, frankly, Tim Russert is one of the best examples (I believe) of that kind of accountability journalism. I can’t count the number of politicians I have watched squirm and sweat when Russet uttered the words “Let me put something up on the screen for you and our viewers.”
Well, I suppose this is half true. But for some reason, Republicans just don’t seem to get as many gotchas as Democrats.
I do like the “Russet” spelling, though – he does kinda look like a giant talking potato…
