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Glenn, the breakdown in communication here is that what you think of as TV news is not what they think of as TV news.
You think of TV news as having a moral and ethincal responsibility to the public good to function oppositionally to the government in a search for truth.
They, and by they I mean actors like Brian Williams, see TV "news" as a show. It's entertainment. It's ratings. It's Mary Tyler Moore meets reality TV. It's WKRP meets TMZ.
Of course I agree with you. I think news has an obligation to the public trust.
I'm just saying that when you say "news" and they say "news," you're talking about fact-based public trust, and they're talking about "Thatttts Entertainnnnment!!"
Government Generals dressed up as "experts"? It's all part of the show.
To them, it's like complaining the FBI agents on 24 aren't real FBI agents.
Who cares? They look the part.