A Journalism of Victors & Losers

September 09, 2009

A Journalism of Victors & Losers

Is that, then, what we've come to?

Mark Bowden has a fascinating article in The Atlantic, headlined, "The Story Behind the Story," that takes the news coverage of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination as a case study in how contemporary journalism is boiling down to one of advocacy and power, rather than one of truth and curiosity. Facing the layoffs of reporters, news organizations are permitting ideologues to fill the gaps in the 24-hour news cycle. "The collapse of journalism means that the quest for information has been superseded by the quest for ammunition," reads the subhead. More than a manifesto, the article tracks down the origin of the video clips that framed the Sotomayor coverage--the "wise Latina" bit and the "judges make policy" bit--and finds surprising results.

Oh, but there's no point in paraphrasing it when you can dive into the article yourself. Long live the primary sources!

Posted at 12:03 PM in Media, Politics | Permalink

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