Professor Alterman explains the cognitive dissonance of the national press corps. Boy, it all sounds so familiar…

I especially liked this part:

And yet, in his rendering of the Whitewater/Lewinsky investigation, Harris never once delves into the cozy (and potentially illegal) relationship between Ken Starr’s leaky prosecutorial staff and the credulous reporters who ran its political interference; this despite the fact that the judicial investigation of these nefarious tactics was itself a large part of the story.

Harris also glosses over Starr’s connection to the uppermost reaches of his own, extremely powerful, newspaper. Harris does discuss the President’s (profane) reaction to reading Sally Quinn’s infamous apologia for Establishment Clinton-haters, but Harris does not quote Quinn explaining, “Starr is a Washington insider, too. He has lived and worked here for years. He had a reputation as a fair and honest judge. He has many friends in both parties. Their wives are friendly with one another and their children go to the same schools.” In her 3,579-word article, Quinn did not find the space to mention Judge Starr’s much-appreciated dismissal of a $2 million libel judgment against the Post. Neither does Harris.

And this:

Harris also does Clinton, and history, a significant disservice on terrorism. He seems to want to hold Clinton accountable for the media’s–and Congress’s–unwillingness to heed the President’s frequent warnings on Osama bin Laden and the terrorist threat. As former Clinton speechwriter Ted Widmer has pointed out, “The press corps was oblivious, and the Republican Congress simply opposed anything Mr. Clinton proposed. Then, after George W. Bush became President, when the G.O.P. had a chance to do something about terrorism, they slashed counterterrorism funding, ignored intelligence concerning Al Qaeda and chased after chimeras like a national missile-defense system.”

Recall that the media’s hero during this part of the terrorism story was FBI Director Louis Freeh, the object of an embarrassingly adoring New Yorker profile by Elsa Walsh–Mrs. Bob Woodward–for his willingness to treat the Clinton crew as near criminals. We now know that Freeh’s incompetence helped pave the way for 9/11. The bureau’s failure to share the most basic information with the White House and the rest of the security apparatus allowed Al Qaeda to plan and execute its murderous plot undisturbed. According to the just-released Justice Department Inspector General’s report, the bureau missed at least five opportunities before 9/11 and this proved “a significant failure that hindered the FBI’s chances of being able to detect and prevent the September 11 attacks.”

Every once in a while, someone will make make a comment to me along the lines of “But you didn’t work for a real newspaper. Not like the Times, or the Post.” Kids, here’s the dirty little secret of journalism: There isn’t much difference. Either you learn how to cover a story, or you don’t. Either you know to question everything, or you don’t.

You learn how to think like a journalist - or you learn how to think like a self-justifying toady.