The 'Jeff Gannon' Scandal in Context

Jay Rosen: In the Press Room of the White House that is Post Press. Creating "Jeff Gannon" as a credible White House correspondent, and creating radical doubt about the intentions of mainstream journalists (in order to de-certify the traditional press) are two parts of the same effort, which stretches beyond the Bush team itself to allies in Republican Party politics, and new actors like Sinclair Broadcasting, or FreeRepublic.com, or Hugh Hewitt, or these guys.

It is this larger picture that accounts for a professional tribe of journalists who, as Lemann said, "collectively felt both more harshly attacked and less important" in 2004. The more harshly attacked part comes from the Culture War rumbling below, while the message "you're unimportant" is sent directly from the top.

See also Tom Tomorrow's latest.

Comments

[Al]

This "decertification", as Jay calls it, can only happen if the press lets it. A strong, independent press, with personal opinion and group-think minimized, couldn't be decertified. In other words, they would be above it. Don't blame Bush, the traditional "Big Press" is rightly under attack because of it's problems.

Like a lot of things, I think the press will adapt and the pendulum will swing the other direction. Just as our economy is so adaptable, I think the press that is left standing will be better. It may take a few years. I'm not saying that the problems will go away, but those people will be segmented out and called something else. Groups of journalists will re-form under the old trusted brands. Some of these may work, in which we all benefit, and others will end up in the lower segments.

With blogging and the multitude of options, we're watching the implosion of the current press model. It will be rejuvenated when the right people run it. The question is how long will it take for it to happen?

[Dennis]

Dan, why not link to Tom Tomorrow at WorkingForChange instead of Salon?

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=18640