Cheney's Punk – Part II

Dan Froomkin nails it again:

If you're a journalist, and a very senior White House official calls you up on the phone, what do you do? Do you try to get the official to address issues of urgent concern so that you can then relate that information to the public?

Not if you're NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert.

When then-vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby called Russert on July 10, 2003, to complain that his name was being unfairly bandied about by MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Russert apparently asked him nothing.

And get this: According to Russert's testimony yesterday at Libby's trial, when any senior government official calls him, they are presumptively off the record.

That's not reporting, that's enabling.

That's how you treat your friends when you're having an innocent chat, not the people you're supposed to be holding accountable.........................

Russert is the new poster child (supplanting Bob Woodward) for showing how Washington reporters are do nothing journalists, seemingly more concerned with being part of the political in-crowd rather than fulfilling their role as watchdogs for the American public. To say that this is a huge dis-service to our nation is an understatement. One has to wonder how these media types can be so clueless regarding their abrogation of duty. Don't they care about America? Don't they care about their children?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to answer the question about why Washington “journalists” are held in such low regard – just ask Russert.
Posted on The Human Stain