Glenn Greenwald has long been on the forefront of exposing a central failing of contemporary journalism: the media establishment being a part of the power structure, rather than being a critic of it.
Cenk Uygur, upon his departure at MSNBC, has given us an explicit confirmation of this growing contemporary problem. Paul Waldman in the America Prospect reports:
According to Uygur, some time ago the head of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, sat him down and told him, "People in Washington tell me that they're concerned about your tone." Griffin also said, according to Cenk, "Outsiders are cool. But we're not. We're insiders. We are the establishment." So he was instructed to tone it down -- not be so critical of the administration, and generally be more polite. Not being a "tone it down" sort of fellow, he didn't. So despite the fact that he had been doing quite well in the ratings, and apparently improving all the time, he basically got offered a demotion and instead decided to just leave.
Cenk's bold move, which will likely assure him that he will never work in cable news again, is a stark reminder of the divide between those journalists who are striving to expose honest truths about what occurs in the halls of power and those who wish to reside within those walls (such as the folks at MSNBC, CNN, major news networks...).
In 2009, Glenn Greenwald, on Bill Moyers Journal, talked at length about the fate of those, like Cenk, who choose to be critics of power in the contemporary world of cable news, and his words now seem prophetic:
...it's clearly the case that if you are a critic of political power and the media establishment that there are going to be lots of opportunities that you end up not being able to take advantage of. There are going to be lots of invitations that ordinarily you might receive that you end up not getting. Lots of people who shun you. Particularly the targets of your critique. I think that's quite natural. And so, in that sense, I think if you tip, if you purposely remain on the outside of establishment power, in order to critique it, there are going to be lots of episodes that produce a form of loneliness. Which I think is actually quite gratifying and rewarding, and a hallmark of the fact that you're doing the right thing.
Given the current structure, it is remarkable that Cenk was given the opportunity that he got at MSNBC, with his strong critical bent known to the media elites that hired him. But they did so because of the large following Cenk had accrued, and reasoned, I'm sure, that once he was within the halls of "the establishment" at MSNBC, and became familiar with the norms that were necessary to follow in order to have full access to the power players in Washington, he would tone things down.
He would fall in line.
He didn't.
In perhaps one of the most informative anecdotes I've ever read on the matter, Glenn Greenwald talks about the media frenzy and celebration of Tim Russert after his death. And he explains, sharply, why this occurred, why Russert was so revered by both politicians and by "the establishment":
And if you look at what Tim Russert actually did there were a couple of actually interesting episodes where not his image, but the reality of what he did was unmasked, during the Lewis Libby trial, in particular. The trial of Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff for obstruction of justice. That involved a lot of journalists, because they were participants in the effort to unmask Valerie Plame Wilson and to smear Joe Wilson. And what he said during that trial, under oath, was they asked him, well, when you have a conversation with one of your sources, with the government official, when is it that you decide that it's confidential. And when is it that you can report it? And what he said was, well, actually, when I have a conversation with the government official, I consider that conversation presumptively confidential. And I will disclose it only if they authorize me to do so. And it was an extraordinary revelation, because if you talk to government officials, and you only disclose to the public things that you know, when they allow you, or give you permission to do so, what you're really describing is the role of a propagandist, not of a journalist. And yet, that was what you know, Tim Russert in many ways was. That's what his celebrity was based in.
Cenk's departure at MSNBC should be a reminder to all of us here at Daily Kos – and perhaps a needed shot in the arm – of the essential work we do here.
Sure, our critiques may sometimes be reactionary and overblown. And sure, I don't always agree with them, or with those of Cenk, for that matter, as I tend to be a bit more measured than some.
However, Daily Kos, in this journalistic void, has become essential. I believe this fully. The work we do has become essential. Many of us here do the work not being done in the traditional media. We are the allies of Greenwald and Stewart and Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. (Yes, even when we disagree with them, as I know many here do with Greenwald).
We are the journalists (a linguistic stretch, but perhaps a needed one). We are the critics. The ones willing to stand outside the establishment and voice criticism when such criticism is warranted.
We are NOT "the establishment." Which is precisely why we are needed.
Author's Note 1: I know there has been a bit of controversy in the comments about whether there was any embedded racism intended in this diary. Please note that this diary IN NO WAY is meant to be a critique of MSNBC for hiring Al Sharpton to replace Cenk. The focus and force of this diary isn't even meant to be on Cenk, or Greenwald, for that matter, but upon the current, establishment culture in the media (a culture that, as some have pointed out, is not historically new).
Author's Note 2: Here is Cenk explaining his departure: