The release of the movie,
Shattered Glass has brought
out the navel-gazers in force
Frank Rich was gazing at his navel the other day. He obviously did not like what he saw, so he
penned a New York Times Column about it.
He goes on to lament:
The likes of a Glass and a Blair are true embarrassments to their peers. But the larger culture in which they thrived has done more longterm damage to the press than these individual
transgressors, however notorious. "The standard for journalism used to be, `What's the best obtainable version of the truth?' " Carl Bernstein said when I asked him how the profession has changed since the Watergate era. "Now we're living in a celebrity culture that no longer values truth more than hype. You have to go back to what was great about the movie of `All the President's Men.' It was not about the characters of Bob and me. There's not a woman in our lives in it; it's not about us at all. It's about the process of good journalism: methodical, empirical, not very glamorous, hard-slogging reporting. Now journalism is as infected by the celebrity culture as every other institution."
Poor Frank.
Funny thing about journalistic navel gazing; they always seem to bemoan the rascals, but only after they have been publicly condemned as rascals
Frank Rich penned nearly 1800 words worrying about the lack of reporting standards
Not once, not once did he refer to Jeff Gerth. Remember him? Yeah, that guy I am sure Wen Ho Lee remembers Jeff Gerth. If Frank needs a refresher about the standards of his colleague, I am happy to direct him to this site.
Nor did he refer to Katharine `Kit' Seelye and her wonderful contributions to the 2000 Presidential elections. I am too damn tired to bring in all the links from the Howler.
Frank, do some real journalistic work, for a change.
He made no mention of Maureen Dowd, (yes, this one...) his fellow navel gazer who quotes Wieseltier
"The reason that con artists get away with elaborate deception is that most people refuse to live in a world in which cynicism is the rule," says Leon Wieseltier, the magazine's literary editor, who never suspected Glass. "We're mentally prepared for honest mistakes. And everybody lies. But most people lie because they're afraid, not because they get pleasure out of deceiving or because they have contempt for people and standards of probity."
And then adds...
It's hard to protect yourself from the big lie.
She should know
With the noble exception of Joe Conason and Phil Mushnick, I have seen NO current journalist willing to call the conduct of his professional colleagues to question.
Memo to Frank Rich: Dude, grow a spine, look around you at your own current colleagues and then let's talk.