>Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
>>Joanna:
>>> I'm impressed and encouraged that there remains "a line to cross."
>>I think it is mere scapegoating to maintain face rather than the existence
>>of actual standards. The jurnos need to maintain some semblance of
>>credibility so an occasional purge for a blatant transgression creates an
>>impression that the rest is credible.
>
>American journalists are a pretty debased bunch, but I really don't think
>they're quite as bad as you're painting them, Woj. Taking an undisclosed
>quarter mil in government money to shill for administration policies is
>really going too far, even by the standards of a bunch of servile hacks.
>
>By the way, a front-page story in today's FT reports that Allawi's people
>are handing out envelopes of cash to Iraqi journalists, looking for
>friendlier coverage. Wonder if that'll get reported here.
>
>Doug
I tend to think Wojtek is basically right about this except I think hanging Williams out to dry is performed primarily to separate his transgressions from theirs. An attempt to make their own perfidious behavior appear more acceptable. My feeling is that if they could get away with this most of them would have no problem with it. Perhaps I'm just becoming misanthropic as I age however.
John Thornton
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