Not even comparable. He thinks that John Stewart’s broadside against Crossfire is the same as the whining about bias on both sides (I reserve the right to work the ref).
To me, and I’m probably not typical, it is not even close. Charles Madigan and most of the writers at papers do a decent job under the constraints of the business of journalism and in many ways I think it is getting better. Frequent updating on-line improves the context of stories and the information people can get. But more importantly the attack on Crossfire is an attack on mass media become a postmodern wasteland of claim versus claim. That’s a far more sophisticated complaint that too much of news is simply repeating assertions.
I love to make fun of Chris Mathews, and for good reason, but I have to admire that when he catches a clear problem, he calls the speaker on it–he’s done it to Kucinich, he’s done it to some of the Bush people and to Michelle Malkin. That’s what the ref should be doing–not making sure all points are even by the ‘team.’
Madigan and the written press are better about this. The problem is that fewer and fewer citizens are bothering to read them.
The post above this by Madigan is very good as well.
Much of the blogosphere likes to blast the press for a bunch of different things. Some of that is deserved–certainly there is a lot of group think like with any profession and much of the TV media is just horrible anymore, but ultimately, journalists are the only ones with the ability to track down stories. I’m not sure how many bloggers have actually tried reporting, but it is really hard. Try and sort through a complicated budget matter with competing claims is extremely difficult. It takes time that on a beat, many journalists can’t master. That is a flaw in the system, but it doesn’t make them incompetent.
Too many journalists just don’t take the time to sort things out. The Tribune and the AP in this state have enormous resources, yet far too much of their reporting is he-said, she-said. Madigan showed in that post that he just doesn’t get it. Those are “old” criticisms, repeated almost by rote by people who don’t know any better.