[Note: this comment ontologically recreates the phylogenic process under discussion.]

Wow, pages and pages of comments already-- I was tempted to bypass the "[dis]continue reading" link and go right to the comments to catch up.

Instead, I skimmed the post and will backtrack after this to see if it's been said already. I trust it has.

Years ago, I watched one of those PBS/Fred Friendly current events roundtable panels including journalist Lyle Denniston, even back then a veteran Beltway reporter covering the Supreme Court.

Denniston came off as a Serious, no-nonsense journalist; he's one of the Beltway bunch of Broders, but displayed obvious analytical acumen and integrity.

The subject may have involved the "function" of journalism in Amerikan democracy; surprisingly, Denniston summed up the essence of being a reporter by example or analogy: an unusual public event happens in a town or neighborhood-- a car crash, a fire-- and kids nearby see it happen.

One of the kids is bound to take off like a bat out of Hell to tell "everybody" what just happened, or is happening. My recollection is faint, and I'm not about to check YouTube to see if this program is available. But I dimly recall Denniston amplifying his "curious kid who also needs to be the first to let everybody know the news" analogy: the kid is the first one who makes a beeline for a knothole to see what's going on behind the fence; the kid will climb a tree to get a better view-- and yell a play-by-play to his astonished friends below.

That's the kid who grows up to be a journalist; that's what it's all about.

This kind of mentality, or instinct, is the essence of the Serious Grown-Up Reporter, Denniston averred-- a professionalized busybody and gossipmonger in the best sense, presumably refining and channeling these dubious motivations to discover and share important truths illuminating important aspects of sociopolitical life.

I had mixed feelings upon considering this analogy, which is why is stuck in my head.

Because Denniston's candid comparison didn't shy away from admitting that these qualities were primarily ego-driven-- the hypothetical proto-reporter kid needed to be the First One on the Block to know What's Going On, and basked in the attendant attention and approbation.

When Denniston's characterization of the essence of journalism is combined with the commodification and corporate ownership of media, the status quo results.

Arguably, this story is one of a million examples of Denniston's metaphorical Natural-Born reporter writ large, and elevated to a sociopathic level. The individual reporter's "need to know" is subsumed into a business obsessed with being first to "get" and "scoop" the story.

I've long since learned to let the first wave of reporting go in one ear and out the other. It's painfully obvious that the preliminary reports are neither factually trustworthy, nor definitive.

It's equally painfully obvious that there exists a corpus or canon of pre-existing "angles" that corporate news media use as hooks upon which to frantically pile factoids and unwarranted interpretations. The media can't help it! The people Demand to Know.

Even "Democracy Now" has to devise a way to organize the story with a minimum of reliable facts.

The fact that the perpetrator is alive, and may recover, makes it possible that eventually we will learn what he thought he was doing. As with the Beltway Sniper, this perspective may not prove enlightening.

But the present corporate media approach described by Glenn is the equivalent of mechanically and furiously gathering up every scrap of ad hoc "pertinent" information and throwing it against the wall in Breaking News Team Coverage Mode, and pretending to simultaneously analyze it responsibly.

I'm sure that the Chuck Todds of the world can rationalize this pathological process with some lame "it's all good!" argument. Sure, the media may begin with a feeding-frenzy, and swallow up more garbage than meat, but after all is said and digested, it excretes a pretty reliable product that exceeds the Minimum Daily Requirement for truth per dose!

I don't know if Lyle Denniston would agree, but this is manifestly not the way that sober, sensible, intelligent adults discern truth; instead, it's a massive exercise of Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Wow! The AARP and the AMA are cool with No Insurer Left Behind legislation?

Now that this vanguard has come in from the cold and stormed the battlements, Team Obama ought to bring out the really big endorsements: coroners, funeral directors, and insurance corporation CEOs!

Yes, we can!

I mean, realistically now-- Thanksgiving is but a fortnight away; is there anybody who isn't up for a turkey?

Thanks a fucking lot for summoning up the horrorshow of the Gorgon Pelosi's honeypot! Maggots! Brrr...

I think I have enough bleach around, but now I have to go out in a spitting rain to the goddamn TrueValue before it closes and get some more lye.

I really think you ought to post some sort of "alert". Doesn't Kos use the Parental Ratings code, e.g. "G" "R"? (I don't think they allow "NC-17" over there, though.)

Maybe this is one of the abundant innovations promised for SalonFugly. They're probably refining out the non-irksome features even as I write, and Bam!-- there they'll be.