The secrecy-loving mind of the U.S. journalist

[woo me with science]

http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/the_secrecy_loving_mind_of_the_u_s_journalist/singleton/

The secrecy-loving mind of the U.S. journalist
By Glenn Greenwald, Salon

In July, 2007, The Washington Post‘s Richard Cohen wrote a column condemning the prosecution of Lewis “Scooter” Libby on the ground that political officials should not “be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics”; instead, he explained: “as with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.” At the time, I hailed Cohen’s column as “a true tour de force in explaining the function of our Beltway media stars,” writing: That really is the central belief of our Beltway press, captured so brilliantly by Cohen in this perfect nutshell. When it comes to the behavior of our highest and most powerful government officials, our Beltway media preaches, “it is often best to keep the lights off.” If that isn’t the perfect motto for our bold, intrepid, hard-nosed political press, then nothing is.

....
I genuinely thought it would be a very long time before someone surpassed that column’s achievement in shining light on the paradoxical mind and function of the standard establishment journalist: they proudly venerate and defend extreme government secrecy at the same time they parade around as Adversarial Watchdogs and Light-Shiners on the political class. But I was wrong: today we have a column from The New York Times‘ Roger Cohen (presumably no relation) that accomplishes that task with even more stunning (though equally unintentional) brilliance.

Cohen observes, quite rightly, that President Obama — who repeatedly vowed to usher in The Most Transparent Administration Ever — has taken U.S. foreign policy almost completely underground and draped it in sweeping, anti-democratic secrecy:

....
As usual, American journalists are the leading proponents not of transparency but of secrecy, not of accountability but of covert decision-making in the dark, not of the rule of law but the rule of political leaders. As Cohen’s Washington Post namesake put it: “it is often best to keep the lights off.” That, with some exceptions, is the motto not only of The Washington Post but of American establishment journalism generally. That’s what NYU Journalism Professor Jay Rosen meant when he said that the reason we got WikiLeaks is because “the watchdog press died.” With some exceptions — some of this we have learned about from whistleblowers leaking to reporters, who then publish it – the American media does not merely fail to fulfill its ostensible function of bringing transparency to government; far beyond that, it takes the lead in justifying and protecting extreme government secrecy. Watching a New York Times columnist stand up and cheer for multiple covert, legally dubious wars and an underground foreign policy highlights that as well as anything one can recall.


(lots of examples - worth reading the whole thing)

[dtexdem]

1. Of course the media loves official secrecy:

1) then they can get "scoops" when they reveal a secret; but
2) in the meantime, the public lacks some of the information it needs to find out how much the media kisses officials' asses.

[gratuitous]

2. Keeping secrets means "access"

One has to wonder what "access" means when all you can do is publish the "official" line, and never breathe a word about what's really going on. The days are long gone when I.F. Stone used to plow through government documents and contact low level factotums to ferret out what really went into announced policies, much of which was not very complimentary to anyone involved. That's far too much like work, and interferes with the dizzying schedule of cocktail parties and rubbing elbows with the movers and the shakers.

[gratuitous]

3. Is this even worth a kick?

I guess I'll find out . . .

[Withywindle]

4. You know what that reminds me of? Buck Williams in 'Left Behind'

Ever read the blog Slacktivist? Very smart and funny liberal Christian brutally deconstructs the Left Behind books, with the aid of dozens of equally smart and funny commenters.

One of the running themes is how the character Cameron "Buck" Williams, who is supposed to be The Greatest Investigative Reporter of All Time, covers up for the actual, literal Antichrist constantly, and then goes to work for him, and keeps all his secrets, including ones that lead directly to the deaths of millions of people. And we're supposed to think he's heroic, just like the other main characters who do exactly bupkis to help anyone at any time in the whole series. Just because he's on the "right side" because he has the exact right interpretation of prophecy. That he does nothing about.