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The People's Tribunes

Everyone who likes to laugh has seen Stephen Colbert's star turn at last year's White House Correspondent's Association dinner. The association, composed of some of the most pompous, cowardly frauds to walk this earth, wants to make sure nothing like that will ever happen again.

This year's master of ceremonies will be Rich Little (yeah, I didn't know he was still alive either). Not only that, but Little's been instructed not to make any jokes about either President Bush or Iraq, for fear of hurting the Leader of the Free World's feelings.

This poses no problem for Little, who may not be aware of either Bush or the war. He'll just fill the time with cutting edge material on Richard Nixon and the 18 1/2 minute gap. The rest of us have been given a splendid view of the dual role of Washington reporters.

If news organizations meant all the crap they give us about journalistic ethics, the members of the WHCA would be told to either resign from the organization or get fired. How can there be an organization of reporters trying to make sure their own event makes no news?

Nothing like that will happen. People don't understand what the "journalists" at the top levels of Washington really do. They're double dippers. Sometimes they're journalists, but more often they're lobbyists representing the interests of the giant corporations which employ them. And the closer their assignment takes them to the seat of power, the more lobbying and less reporting they do.

The best example is the man on the top of the Washington press corps. The corporate flow chart says Tim Russert is Washington bureau chief for NBC News, and occasionally he is. Russert's more important role, however, is to represent the General Electric corporation in the corridors of power. Without going into the blogger-beloved complexities of the case, let's just say this dual role is why Russert's on the witness list for the Scooter Libby trial.

That's the way it is. Work at the White House for Time, you'd better keep an eye on what might affect AOL. The two newspapers which devote the most space to news from the capital, the New York Times and Washington Post, are Fortune 500 companies in their own right, rife with interests in the government way beyond telling us what the hell it's doing.

Don't get me wrong. These institutions aren't totally corrupt. Probably they're corrupt less than 1 percent of the time, a very high honesty quotient for 21st century America. Putting out a successful product is an important part of corporate success, and the news companies want that, too.

Let me cite my own case. I was employed at two differenct papers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch is the most agenda-driven titan in the business. He is, however, also its most legendary buccaneer. Simply put, if you made money for Murdoch, he did not give a rat's ass what you thought. My political views, equal parts free marketeer, social democrat, and despairing nihilist, are not his. But I was in sports, a money-making part of the Murdoch empire. If I did my job of stirring the pot and attracting attention, ideology wasn't an issue. In 1993, some members of the Ryder Cup team boycotted a photo-op with President Clinton because they objected to the fact Clinton had raised taxes on the wealthy-them. I wrote this was a chickenshit move even by the standards of professional golf. The only feedback I received was a wistful query from the corner office boys as to why I hadn't used stronger language.

If I were a Murdoch employed member of the WHCA, things would be different. My gifts as a courtier and schmoozer would be what mattered. Sticking up for a Democratic president would not be tolerated (unless, of course, doing so would make more dough for Murdoch).

There are countless reporters doing splendid important work in Washington. They work long hours to provide vital information to a citizenry that, let's face it, doesn't give much of a shit.
The double-dippers at the top of the heap started off among their number.

Weird world, national political reporting. The byproduct of success is promoting oneself out of one's own integrity.

posted by Michael Gee @ 10:17 AM