Greenwald takes aim at the journalist class:
This remains the single most notable and revealing fact of American political life: that (with some very important exceptions) those most devoted to maintaining and advocating government secrecy is our journalist class, of all people. It would be as if the leading proponents of cigarette smoking were physicians, or those most vocally touting the virtues of illiteracy were school teachers. Nothing proves the true function of these media stars as government spokespeople more than their eagerness to shield government actions from examination and demand that government criminality not be punished.
I have to say I have rarely felt as alienated from my fellow Beltway pundits than on this issue. Greenwald is right about this in particular:
Amazingly, when it comes to crimes by ordinary Americans, being "tough on crime" is a virtually nonnegotiable prerequisite to being Serious, but when it comes to political officials who commit crimes in the exercise of their power, absolute leniency is the mandated belief upon pain of being dismissed as "shrill" and extremist. Can anyone find an establishment media pundit anywhere -- just one -- who is advocating that Bush officials who broke the law be held accountable under our laws? That view seems actively excluded from establishment media discussions.
Well, I'm still here and although I've stopped going on cable for lack of time, I have said this consistently for years on whatever TV show I've been on. But there are very few others. If you actually demand answers, you become "shrill". And we now know that the key value of most leading Beltway journalists is deference to those in power and contempt for those who have none.
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