New Nation?

Howard Fineman's new piece on the MSNBC site ends:

In this situation, the last thing the AMMP (American Major Media Party - read the piece, it's explained early on) needed was to aim wildly at the president — and not only miss, but be seen as having a political motivation in attacking in the first place. Were Dan Rather and Mary Mapes after the truth or victory when they broadcast their egregiously sloppy story about Bush's National Guard Service? The moment it made air it began to fall apart, and eventually was shredded by factions within the AMMP itself, conservative national outlets and by the new opposition party that is emerging: The Blogger Nation. It's hard to know now who, if anyone, in the "media" has any credibility.

How does Fineman reach that conclusion?

Read the whole piece. It's excellent.

Not that there aren't a few clinkers:

Some Republicans learned how to manipulate the AMMP, especially its growing obsession with personalities — and its desire to be regarded as even-handed. The objective wasn't to win the AMMP's approval, but to isolate it by uncoupling its longterm relationship with the Democrats.

There may have been, in the idealistic heart of a lot of reporters twenty and twenty-five years ago, a desire to be even-handed. In fact, most of the reporters I know still feel that way - they just have no idea where to start covering conservative issues, who to talk to or what conservatism really means beyond the stereotypes of their academic, professional and social circles.

Anyway - read the Fineman piece...

Posted by Mitch at January 12, 2005 07:28 PM | TrackBack