Why Oh Why Can’t We Have a Better Press Corps?
Brad asks the question, for the nth time (n>30). As happens fairly often, the trigger is the Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman. After a fairly thorough explanation of the flaws in Weisman’s piece, Brad throws this at him:
Overall, Weisman’s article is like… it’s like… it’s like somebody totally drunk staggering around the neighborhood in the middle of the night, mistaking lampposts for trees, bushes for people, and busses for elephants. Someone who knows next to nothing about the issue area–and who seems incapable of learning–is turned loose on page A1 to try to interpret the state of the economy and how that is affecting current American politics.
Ouch. Read the rest of Brad’s post for some thoughts on “How in God’s name did we ever get such lousy reporter like this ensconced in the center of our elite press corps?”
One thought: instead of, or in addition to, forwarding Brad’s post to Weisman, as I think Brad’s readers are likely to do, forward it to the Post’s other political, business, and economic reporters. Weisman and his editors already don’t seem to care about Weisman’s accuracy and numeracy, but maybe some scorn from his peers will help.
AB
UPDATE: Digby’s got some good media criticism, too.