Williams Powers at National Journal is watching the media watch President Bush, and sees a not-very-subtle trend.
It's one of those rare moments when everyone in Washington pretty much agrees on the state of the presidency -- and it ain't good.The White House is a house of pain, and the news class is taking every opportunity to remind us of this fact and, let's face it, to celebrate the downturn. You can't go anywhere in the media without stumbling on an extended discussion of exactly how awful things are for President Bush, how deeply unpopular he's become, how chastened and timid he is, how tattered his record, how dark and dreary the prospects for the rest of his term. The tone is measured, but between the lines you can sense the barely concealed glee....
Journalists as a group have center-liberal tendencies, but in the end, our chief allegiance is not to any political party. We are the party of scandal, failure, ignominy, embarrassment, and tragedy. The more of these horrors afflicting this or any other White House, the better for us.
I don't buy Powers's inability to recognize the leftist bias that also factors into the slanted coverage of this administration. However, there's no denying the role of journalistic schadenfreude.
Tip for this article via e-mail from a thoughtful newspaper correspondent who adds this comment:
This is in line with what [my paper] is like - not terribly liberal like other "leading" news outlets, but rushing along with the tide and building upon the trends of failure it sees everywhere, from Katrina to the White House. This is a perfect example of the media's self-centered, close-minded inability to critique itself.Every reporter I talk to, either from [my paper] or at other papers, thinks all reporters are just after the story. If they're guilty of anything, it's being overly negative and of always pursuing the scandal. Of course, all you have to do is look at the "controversy" stirred up by Bush's bathroom note at the UN (what a waste of space) to know that those people are completely self-deluded.
Posted by Alan at October 7, 2005 02:57 PM