Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Media defense: We printed old news!
The brouhaha over the media's revelations about an anti-terrorism special bank surveillance program is getting curiouser and curiouser. Now there's a new report that says the program wasn't secret after all. If true, it kind of makes President Bush's 'disgraceful' comment seem silly, if not cynical. ... But it also makes the media look even sillier. Defending a news article by saying it isn't really news is not exactly a formidable journalistic line of defense. ... The media is now faced with two unattractive scenarios: A.) Defend the articles as news -- and face up to the consequence that outlets reported on what appears to be a lawful and effective program or B.) Admit the articles weren't news -- and face up to the consequence that the public now knows outlets didn't do basic pre-publication research. ... BTW: All you bloggers and non-administration pols frothing over the issue in recent days, be prepared to pretend this news cycle didn't occur. ...
The brouhaha over the media's revelations about an anti-terrorism special bank surveillance program is getting curiouser and curiouser. Now there's a new report that says the program wasn't secret after all. If true, it kind of makes President Bush's 'disgraceful' comment seem silly, if not cynical. ... But it also makes the media look even sillier. Defending a news article by saying it isn't really news is not exactly a formidable journalistic line of defense. ... The media is now faced with two unattractive scenarios: A.) Defend the articles as news -- and face up to the consequence that outlets reported on what appears to be a lawful and effective program or B.) Admit the articles weren't news -- and face up to the consequence that the public now knows outlets didn't do basic pre-publication research. ... BTW: All you bloggers and non-administration pols frothing over the issue in recent days, be prepared to pretend this news cycle didn't occur. ...
