By Charles C. W.
Cooke
Tuesday, April
06, 2021
The American media is likely unsalvageable
because, whatever happens, it remains entirely unable to grasp why people dislike
it so much. Take, by way of example, Axios’s summary of Sunday’s 60 Minutes debacle, which begins:
Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally with his eyes on the White House, is dialing up
a dispute with “60 Minutes” — seizing on a juicy chance to ingratiate himself
with the GOP base by bashing the media.
Why it matters: It’s a
political gift akin to all the Fox fodder that Sen. Tom Cotton gobbled up after the N.Y. Times revolt over his op-ed.
That’s the story, is it? That DeSantis is
“seizing” on CBS’s world-class dishonesty? The issue here is his reaction to
being so brazenly lied about? The need-to-know précis is that he’s annoyed by
the press’s penchant for deliberately spreading baseless conspiracy theories?
That he might “bash” those who did it? That he’s been accorded a “juicy chance”
to highlight bad behavior?
Just look at that “Why it
matters” summary. Evidently, it is the considered opinion of Axios that
what “matters” here is not that CBS’s flagship “news” show has exhibited such
unyielding corruption that it has been called out as such by prominent Democrats, but that CBS’s egregious conduct has
presented its victim with “a political gift.”
The first step to reform is admitting you
have a problem. And the press simply can’t do it. Hell, even rival
outlets are unprepared to do it to each other — unless, of course,
they’re taking shots at Fox. Every time this happens, the press withers a
little more on the vine. It’ll notice eventually — but by then it’ll be too
late.
No comments:
Post a Comment