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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:00 AM

Journalists and their good friends in the White House

The wall between the government and the establishment media barely even exists in theory any longer.

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  • Wednesday, August 20, 2008 09:42 AM

    Gator90

    The one consistent flaw in GG's generally excellent media criticism is his under-valuation of the purely partisan dynamic that drives our discontent. Since the early 90s, Big Media doesn't serve the Government; it serves the Republican Party and follows the scripts provided.

    But I don't disagree with this. One key theme of my last book is the partnership formed between the establishment media and the right-wing, and how the former serves the latter. Chapter 2 is entitled (I didn't pick this): "How Great American Hypocrites Feed Off One Another -- Right-wing Smears and the Establishment Press" and details how the media and Right work in tandem.

    I agree completely that one of the key biases of the media is its servitude to the GOP - I just don't think that's the only significant bias, and I think it remains to be seen whether, in a Democratic administration, the media returns to something resembling a healthy, vibrant adversarial press. I think they'll try to torpedo the Democratic President with the types of petty, tawdry attacks that plagued Bill Clinton, but that isn't the same as a press that is serving as a meaningful check on Government abuses.

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