Greenwald: "Political reporting" means "royal court gossip"

[Jennicut]

By Glenn Greenwald
"No event in recent memory has stimulated the excitement and interest of Washington political reporters like the release of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's new book, Game Change, and that reaction tells you all you need to know about our press corps. By all accounts (including a long, miserable excerpt they released), the book is filled with the type of petty, catty, gossipy, trashy sniping that is the staple of sleazy tabloids and reality TV shows, and it has been assembled through anonymous gossip, accountability-free attributions, and contrived melodramatic dialogue masquerading as "reporting." And yet -- or, really, therefore -- Washington's journalist class is poring over, studying, and analyzing its contents as though it is the Dead Sea Scrolls, lavishing praise on its authors as though they committed some profound act of journalism, and displaying a level of genuine fascination and giddiness that stands in stark contrast to the boredom and above-it-all indifference they project in those rare instances when forced to talk about anything that actually matters.

This reaction has nicely illuminated what our press corps is. The book is little more than royal court gossip, churned out by the leading practitioner of painfully sycophantic, Drudge-mimicking cattiness: Time's Mark Halperin. And all of the courtiers, courtesans, court spokespeople (i.e., "journalists") and hangers-on who populate our decadent little Versailles on the Potomac can barely contain their glee over the opportunity to revel in this self-absorbed sleaze. Virtually every "political news" TV show is hyping it. D.C. reporters are boasting that they obtained early previews and are excitedly touting how intensively they're studying its pages in order to identify the most crucial revelations. Just try to contemplate how things would be if even a fraction of this media energy and interest level were devoted to scrutinizing the non-trivial things political leaders do" .http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/11/halperin/

Never have I agreed with Glen Greenwald more then in this article (and I don't always agree with him). The book is trashy gossip. The first line in his last paragraph says it all:" The real value of a book like this lies in the opportunity it presents for Washington's elite class to distract themselves and everyone else from the oozing corruption, destruction, decaying and pillaging going on -- that these same Washington denizens have long enabled." It is pure distraction.

[niyad]

1. k and r--I saw that earlier, was going to post it, but didn't get to it.

[Nancy Waterman]

2. This is a terrific piece!!

Thank you for posting it. He really nails it.

the book is filled with the type of petty, catty, gossipy, trashy sniping that is the staple of sleazy tabloids and reality TV shows, and it has been assembled through anonymous gossip, accountability-free attributions, and contrived melodramatic dialogue masquerading as "reporting." And yet -- or, really, therefore -- Washington's journalist class is poring over, studying, and analyzing its contents as though it is the Dead Sea Scrolls, lavishing praise on its authors as though they committed some profound act of journalism, and displaying a level of genuine fascination and giddiness that stands in stark contrast to the boredom and above-it-all indifference they project in those rare instances when forced to talk about anything that actually matters.

[tularetom]

3. "Virtually every "political news" TV show is hyping it"

Alas, this is true. Even the good ones. Countdown did 15 minutes on this stupid book.

Yes, it's entertaining to read about how stupid Palin is, and stories about McCain's explosive temper (usually directed at the wife whose money supports him).

But all that has fuck all to do with health care, jobs, wars, and the dozens of other things that are more important than whether or not Harry Reid once used the word "Negro".

I guess if hacks like Halperin keep cranking out crap like this book, we won't notice that they have utterly failed to inform us about the true failures of our elected officials.

[Clio the Leo]

4. In the name of EVERYTHING that's decent....

..... cant SOMEONE make it STOP? ........ Cant we argue about Afghanistan or Cadillacs or Rick Warren or SOMETHING!!!!

(and I'm NOT talking about this thread btw)

I'm ALL for engaging in trashy gossip about the OTHER guys :) But this is all one giant circular firing squad. I dont see the use in it all.

[burning rain]

5. KickeR for the audacity of truth-telling.

.

[AuntPatsy]

6. K & R for speaking the truth of why the media is no longer of value

[FrenchieCat]

7. The media is dangerous......

and the book that needs to be written is about them.....
a long a trashy book, displaying all of the warts.

I'd buy that book.

I will not even read excerpts of The book currently being hyped.
I read a bit of the Edwards story, and felt like I needed to take a shower,
not because of what was revealed about the Edwards, as much as the fact
that these writers felt compeled to go there.....when no one really gives a shit.

[Jennicut]

8. I felt dirty too after reading all these gossipy bits in the news reports

Does this help anyone, really? As much as I can't stand Palin or McCain, the parts about them did not make me feel any better. We all know Palin was way in over her head and that McCain is a cold fish (probably even to his own wife) but I really don't need to know trashy details.

[CBR]

9. Political news is awful. My dissertation is examining cable news

coverage during the 2008 election and I have to spend hours coding this junk. They should just get the SportsCenter hosts to do it -- one big hype game.