I'm currently reading Douglas Coupland's Polaroids From the Dead and I happened on a little snippet, two quotes spoken in reference to the O.J. Simpson case. But I was struck immediately upon reading them that the point of the short section explains better than anything I've yet heard why it is the mainstream media has done such a piss-poor job of covering the lies, frauds and deceptions to which we've been subject for the last couple of years.
"Barbara Ehrenreich: There's a new standard. It used to be, get the scoop and be first. Now you want to be 14th or 23rd: 'No, I didn't do it until after NBC did it and ABC did it.' You have to be the last one to do these stories and wear the badge of purity.'
"Jery Nachman: When I was editing the Post, I'd get calls from colleagues at newspapers, whose names you would instantly recognize, wondering when and if we were going to pop the 'X' story. And I would ask, 'Are you going to try to do it first?' And they would say, 'No, we want to go the next day.' Ther was a race to see who would be first to go second.'"
Who wants to be the first to stick their neck out and risk having it chopped off by the White House spinning blades? Who wants to go first and be accused of spiteful un-Americanism?
It's depressing, but it makes sense to me.
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