The Press Corpse Needs a Mirror
I already beat Mike Calderone up about this on Twitter, so I apologize to him in advance for piling on. But I am utterly amazed by the lack of self-awareness shown by everything that went into the production of this story.
In it, Michael Calderone, whose media outlet is owned by big Republican money, and whose colleagues just gave Dick Cheney the most shameless blowjob this side of Judy Miller’s mushroom cloud, tells the story of a certain turmoil in the White House Press Corps.
You see, Peter Baker, who now works at the paper which helped Judy Miller shield the Vice President’s crimes for almost a year, but who used to work at Fred Hiatt’s paper, is concerned that journalists who work at outlets that produce “pieces with strongly argued points of view” will now be contributing to the press pool.
The media industry, as we all know, is changing.
And in this transition, there will inevitably be some friction as online news organizations, which may or may not be bound by the same professed standards of objectivity, begin taking on the responsibilities of long-standing, print publications.
That’s been apparent this week, as White House reporters have privately discussed and debated the recent addition of sites like Talking Points Memo and Huffington Post into the White House in-town press pool. It’s not that reporters are criticizing the work of either Christina Bellantoni or Sam Stein, but some have expressed concerns about pool reports coming from left or right-leaning news organizations that will then be used by the rest of the press corps.
“This is really troubling,” said New York Times reporter Peter Baker in an email to POLITICO. “We’re blurring the line between news and punditry even further and opening ourselves to legitimate questions among readers about where the White House press corps gets its information.”
Baker said he has no problem with outlets like Huffington Post, which he described “an important part of the marketplace of ideas.” But the site, he said, has a mission “to produce pieces with strongly argued points of view” and that puts the Times—or other non-partisan news organizations—“in a position of relying on overtly ideological or opinionated organizations as our surrogate news gatherers.”
While at the WaPo, Baker frequently partnered on stories with both Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, now at the Politico giving blowjobs to Cheney. In fact, Baker covered the White House during the entire period of the discovery of JimmyJeffGannonGuckert, but he is not known to have complained about covering the White House with a gay whore working for a partisan outlet (though to be fair, GannonGuckert never contributed to the press pool). Before working at the WaPo, Baker worked for the Moonie Times, which lost $40 million last year to provide a mouthpiece for a far-right cult leader.
As far as I can tell, Baker has never won a Polk Award — though Josh Marshall has.
Also, as far as I can tell, Baker has also never complained that Fox News participates in the White House pool, in spite of the fact that it, like Fred Hiatt’s editorial page, produces “pieces with strongly argued points of view.” Nor has he complained that it, like the Politico and the Moonie Times, is owned by right-wing big money.’
Nevertheless, Baker is very worried about his credibility if he has to rely on pool reports from the HuffPo and TPM.
Sounds like Peter Baker should worry about his credibility, period. If he thinks Fred Hiatt’s paper is bound by the limits of journalistic ethics, he’s a fool. If he thinks Fox Noise is, he’s too dangerous to let run around with an Internet access device or driving license. I would put Ms. Wheeler’s reporting against his colleagues’ any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Hear Hear…….as we say on this side of the big pond….you know us stil loyal to the crown an all (saying not so polite words about bledding rebels)
As we take five min smoko (looking for the trashtalk) away from the hard work and get down from the old warhorse as we let the big boys put the finishing toutch on our hard work. You go nail those SOB’s marcy…..
Just my five cents worth (today here at the coffemaker we landed another nutch in the gunhandle, so we might get a beer served)
Was that mirror to be held in front of the eyes or under the nose, to see whether there was still any life left?
or if he has a reflection at all?
“And in this transition, there will inevitably be some friction as online news organizations, which may or may not be bound by the same professed standards of objectivity, begin taking on the responsibilities of long-standing, print publications.”
Christ All Mighty “be bound by the same professed standards of objectivity, begin taking on the responsibilities of the long standing print publications” THAT WAS PART OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRAITON BRINGING US A WAR BASED ON A “PACK OF LIES”
Judy “I was fucking right” Miller did not just repeat what the Bush administration was saying. She lack verifiable sources, and the NYT did not even fucking edit her work I mean lies.
Ew how in the hell did Huff Po make it into the WH Press Corp before you or Jane. They must be terrified by you. How the hell can the Huff Po compare to the deep and thorough research and deep investigation that you and the legal heads do hear at Firedoglake. I can barely go over to Huff Po it is so Hollywood.
When will they let you in the room. I know you will promise not to say “blowjob” even when it applies
Heh. One thing is for certain, it will be hard for this to negatively influence Baker’s credibility.
But, EW, how do you know JimmyJeffGannonGuckert didn’t [ahem] contribute to the press pool?
In a mutual blowjob society like that, anything’s possible….
There. I said it. Now the dead tree folks can go all conniption over it.
Because it is a very formal position (though the rules on sharing of pool coverage has changed bc of media woes), which is why the TPM and HuffPo moves are attracting attention.
FDL was in the pool for the Libby voir dire, as well–though they put us last to make it less likely they’d rely on us.
Maybe Gannon didn’t contribute in a stand-up way but he did possibly get down on his knees once or twice, maybe?
Pool boys always get pissed when they find out someone other than themselves gets to pee in the pool.
Mike Calderone pees in pools!?
The same pools where a lucky few get blowjobs!?
Man, that’s just gross. Don’t pee where you eat. And wear a shirt at the dinner table. Manners, people, manners.
I once worked for a news organization as it was going out of business. Being jobless was no fun, but having to put the name of the organization on the cv was downright unbearable (because it was a bad place, the way the WaPo is bad)…. So I left…. But this was back in the sixties, when starting salaries were in the low four figures (whores made a lot more money than we did), and leaving was downright delightful.
Looks like the Dallas Morning News is at least admitting what we already know about who is running the store.
politico is a part of the non ideological journalism ???
when did that happen ???
I’ve seen the comments at politico, (I loves me some good train wreck) it’s a bunch of garbage spewing mouth breathers with a few sane handlers
there isn’t a single thread at politico, regardless of topic, where a whole shitload of “members” discussions fail to devolve into shit throwing matches about Barack Obama’s birth certificate
I would think that a reputable news organization would take steps to correct such falsehoods amongst their loyal readers. But I have never seen a politico article correcting the false information that is passed out in their comments
disinformation and delusion seem to be the mainstay of discussion at politico
they have good reason to fear Josh Marshal
the mouth breathers are afraid of Josh and his cohorts cuz we’re SMART
we laugh at mouth breathers, with good cause
satire is survivable
ridicule is fatal
politico should be afraid
be very very afraid
You are wise grasshopper, and speak the truth.
That’s hilarious – he complains about bloggers in the press pool by posting his complaint to the, um, Politico?
Wouldn’t a serious and “objective” journalist post it to the NYT Op Ed?
Blowjob alert!!!
so I apologize to him in advance for piling on.
disagree, he and they need more piling on. great post.
It’s too bad Deb Howell isn’t around to comment, or couch-faint, or pearl-clutch, on this latest pool development. It’s right up her alley.
I miss your posts about Little Debbie. They were so much fun.
The new guy, Andy, is just so awful and dweebish it’s like rolling the nerdy kids down the hill in garbage cans, or giving swirlies, or (what’s that new thing the young people do on “Glee”? — oh, yeah) Slushies in the face.
i echo a previous commenter, ew,
mike calderone deserves to be beat up more, not less.
maybe a little gitmo style torture – being forced to listen to wapoop, nytimes, and moonie times “non-political” news reports, played over and over, at top volume.
calderone’s confessional about the inappropriateness of “politically aligned” weblogs being given keys to the white house press room bathroom,
remind me of arguments i listened to decades ago by well-ensconced-in-society, well-intentioned (?) southern whites arguing that segregation was a reasonable and fair approach to the reality of two races living in close proximity to each other (an argument, by the way, that right-wing comedienne and saint, bull buckley, was also happy to make).
you listened to these arguments, and as you listened, the thought kept going thru your head: does this person ever observe the social and political reality he/she lives in?
you listened and asked yourself, how can an apparently sensible person make such a self-deceiving argument with such confidence?
and so with calderone:
how can an apparently sensible person make such a self-deceiving argument with such apparent confidence?
my answer: it stems form the need to pay the mortgage,
it’s all about mortgage money.
We live in the Age of Stupid. Everyday we are told that up is down, bad is good, and we have always been at war with Eastasia. Hacks like Peter Baker and Mike Calderone worry that the standards of their professional hackery might be compromised by people who might ask real questions, something their skill set not only doesn’t contain but would flee from in horror. It would be funny if we weren’t hurtling toward a cliff but we are. The media, and drones like Calderone and Baker, bear a heavy responsibility for being so wrapped up in their intellectual masturbation that they can not be bothered to keep the public informed,
A classic metaphor for bad reporting, punditry, policy-making and Congressing: intellectual masturbation, which pleases only oneself and leaves nothing left for one’s partner, but frustration. That seems to describe this press corpse, this Congress and this Democratic leadersheep, the great Mr. O included.
Emphasis added to promote clarity.