Matt Taibbi - 2019
One of the handful of journalists who resisted the Russiagate hysteria from the beginning, (unsurprised when the Mueller investigation fizzled), Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi is consequently rich in credibility as a critic of the news media’s plunge into the virulent, WWE-style partisanship that’s become the new normal in the WWE-style political world of the Trump era. In this independently published book, first serialized on his website, Taibbi takes the press to task for abdicating its obligation to be skeptical in favor of clicks, ratings and sales. He decries the major news outlets for adopting the theory that defeating Trump justifies lax journalistic procedures. In contrast, he believes that the corroded ethics of politicians in and out of the White House demands even more dispassionate and rigorous reporting, not less. While it’s not remarkable to hear that the Washington Post and the New York Times have functioned as pawns for the powerful, as recipients of strategic leaks by Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, and countless others, the phenomenon that Taibbi identifies as relatively recent is the ramping up of partisan tough talk designed not to enlighten but to anger - because anger, tinged with impotence, fuels media consumption more than any other motivations. Trump news is inhaled with greater speed and hunger by Trump haters than by Trump admirers. Taibbi laments an age in which neighbors who can remain completely civil and mature at a Sunday barbecue together can go online later the same day and call each other imbeciles and traitors because of their political affiliations. Trump didn’t create this zeitgeist; he’s its exemplar, as if chosen by fate, as perfect a symbol of his moment in time as Churchill was of his, a coagulation of pus perpetually hours away from bursting. The dumbing down of news and the electorate is what made Trump not only possible but inevitable. What else was going to happen when our presidential election cycles, stretched out (uniquely in the modern world) to a merciless, deadening 18 months by this point, are driven not by voters but by the press corps and pundits crowning those they deem “electable” as the front-runners and egging on candidates, always via sports jargon, to brawl, parry, counterpunch, score touchdowns, knock it out of the park, and rebound, all for the entertainment of cable news viewers. There are no easy answers. The best that Taibbi can suggest is that we just turn it off; maybe not completely, but at least enough to make sure that we’re reacting to major news stories with reason rather than emotion.
One of the handful of journalists who resisted the Russiagate hysteria from the beginning, (unsurprised when the Mueller investigation fizzled), Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi is consequently rich in credibility as a critic of the news media’s plunge into the virulent, WWE-style partisanship that’s become the new normal in the WWE-style political world of the Trump era. In this independently published book, first serialized on his website, Taibbi takes the press to task for abdicating its obligation to be skeptical in favor of clicks, ratings and sales. He decries the major news outlets for adopting the theory that defeating Trump justifies lax journalistic procedures. In contrast, he believes that the corroded ethics of politicians in and out of the White House demands even more dispassionate and rigorous reporting, not less. While it’s not remarkable to hear that the Washington Post and the New York Times have functioned as pawns for the powerful, as recipients of strategic leaks by Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, and countless others, the phenomenon that Taibbi identifies as relatively recent is the ramping up of partisan tough talk designed not to enlighten but to anger - because anger, tinged with impotence, fuels media consumption more than any other motivations. Trump news is inhaled with greater speed and hunger by Trump haters than by Trump admirers. Taibbi laments an age in which neighbors who can remain completely civil and mature at a Sunday barbecue together can go online later the same day and call each other imbeciles and traitors because of their political affiliations. Trump didn’t create this zeitgeist; he’s its exemplar, as if chosen by fate, as perfect a symbol of his moment in time as Churchill was of his, a coagulation of pus perpetually hours away from bursting. The dumbing down of news and the electorate is what made Trump not only possible but inevitable. What else was going to happen when our presidential election cycles, stretched out (uniquely in the modern world) to a merciless, deadening 18 months by this point, are driven not by voters but by the press corps and pundits crowning those they deem “electable” as the front-runners and egging on candidates, always via sports jargon, to brawl, parry, counterpunch, score touchdowns, knock it out of the park, and rebound, all for the entertainment of cable news viewers. There are no easy answers. The best that Taibbi can suggest is that we just turn it off; maybe not completely, but at least enough to make sure that we’re reacting to major news stories with reason rather than emotion.
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