Mr. Endicott Is Shocked! Shocked!

An affront to the profession!:

I was making my way through the A section of Monday's Bee when I came across a story that so shocked, stunned and amazed me that I had to reread it to make sure I had not misunderstood. The headline read: "Reporters trade away final say on quotations."

It was a New York Times story detailing how Washington-based White House and political reporters were surrendering to demands from both the Obama administration and the Mitt Romney campaign for final editing power over any published quotes that come from interviews.

This is beyond outrageous. It flies in the face of everything I ever learned or knew about journalism, and editorial integrity and independence. There simply is no way that those being covered should have any input on the product of those doing the covering.

What's next – submitting entire stories for a stamp of approval of some campaign lackey?

Casablanca, 1942:

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

Yes, Mr. Endicott, there is gambling going on in the casino. The reason a blogosphere exists at all is that people have learned through the hardest possible experiences that journalists, especially at the highest levels, routinely allow government officials, businessmen, and others with a direct stake in stories to essentially write their stories for them. Think Wen Ho Lee scandal in the 90's, or Valerie Plame in 2003. The journalist is there to take dictation and put the imprimatur of objectiveness on pure propaganda. That's all. It's a lucrative trade too! Watergate was a long, long time ago. Think the movie "Network." Modern journalism is so utterly compromised - since the early 90's, really - that I'm surprised people still take it up as a career.