Mike Taht pulls the pants off a CNN talking-head feature, and asks, Whatever happened to the ideal of journalism being: to report the news? When did actors get equal time against their interviewees?
Deborah Tannen unpacked the Them vs. Them mentality of mainstream “journalism” almost ten years ago in The Argument Culture. For the likes of CNN, it’s cheap & easy shooting. Always has been, always will be.
By the way, Ron Paul (favored by Mike and many other independent bloggers) will continue getting ignored and dismissed by mainstream media. That’s because his campaign doesn’t fit their templated story, which is about Republicans vs. Democrats, Left vs. Right, Leaders vs. Leaders. Paul may belong to the Republican party, but he’s really a Libertarian. That makes him a third party wolf in GOP wool, and we all know what roles third parties play in the national election script: losers and spoilers. What he says and stands for doesn’t matter. The real question for the mainstreamers is, “Will he hurt the frontrunner?”
Depressing.
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