Others seek room at the top: As Ezra Klein vouches for Paul Ryan’s soul, we’ll recommend this Digby post about others seeking room at the top.
Digby linked to Politico. To his credit, the suicidal Dylan Byers filed the report:
BYERS (3/15/12): David Gregory, host of NBC’s Meet The Press, and Bret Baier, host of Fox News’s Special Report, are among the latest applicants to the Chevy Chase Club, the historic social club that has catered to Washington’s wealthiest for over a century.There’s nothing “wrong” with joining that club, a place where we bombed a few years back. But we have suggested, for years, that progressive interests would be served if the public was made more aware of the massive wealth and social connections of our upper-end “press corps.”
The Club’s recent "Membership Report" shows that both Gregory and Baier are up for consideration as “newly-proposed candidates for membership.” Gregory is being sponsored by Joseph Stettinius and William M. Walker. Baier is being sponsored Burke F. Hayes and by Brit Hume, the former anchor of Fox News’s Special Report.
The Chevy Chase Club would not disclose the cost of admission, but a member told me that the initiation fee is $80,000 and that members pay $6,000 in annual dues. The member also said that Bob Schieffer, host of CBS’s Face The Nation, was a member of the club.
The career liberal world has refused this task. They’ve done so because they’re on the make too. They too seek room at the top!
For years, Jack Welch maintained a club on Nantucket for “the lost boys of NBC News.” The story was very amusing—and it was extremely telling about the deeply destructive journalism of the Clinton-Gore and early Bush years.
Why didn’t Salon report that story? What the Joe Hill was wrong with The Nation?
When you see Joan and David cavorting with Chris, will your lizard brain, at long last, allow you to understand?
One small point about Digby’s headline: In her headline, Digby refers to “the Village 1 percenters.” That’s technically accurate, but somewhat misleading.
In fact, most of the people in question are extremely high up in the top one percent. People will do many things for such wealth and fame.
Fiery young “journalists” will treat you like fools if it lets them find their own room that far up at the top.
Even my lizard brain knows Salon didn't report that story because it could threaten their ability to type "We were on TeeVee!" stories about their own appearances on NBC shows. Darlings!
ReplyDeleteBob, thank you for finally returning to a subject of which you once wrote brilliantly -- the growing culture of millionaire celebrity "journalists", the lengths some will go to for admission into THAT highly exclusive club, and the damage done to democracy in the process.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that, yes indeed, there is something "wrong" -- terribly "wrong" -- when journalists pal around and club around with the very people they are supposed to be covering. And they are not only doing it, they are publicly bragging about it, as you once pointed out when Gwen Ifill bragged about her dinner party for Condy Rice.
And to add further insult to injury, it is extremely deceitful to say the least, as you pointed out frequently of the late Tim Russert, to be a well-established member of highly paid, journalism country club with all sorts of famous and inflential friends that you are supposed to cover objectively while writing your own biography about what an average working stiff you are.
You were also quite brilliant in exposing how easily John McCain became "Saint John the Maverick" merely by buying doughnuts and hobnobbing with the boys and girls on the bus, just like a regular guy. And this was long before the infamous "off the record" barbecue solely for the press corps covering him at his ranch in Sedona.
Keep it up, Bob. The damage this culture is doing to the flow of information necessary for a democracy to function can't be over-reported and over-explored.
A great post!
ReplyDeleteYes, these are the bastards that need to be under the pump. How they must yuk it up about being part of the "liberal media" over a few preprandial cocktails at the Chevy Chase Club. I picture it as somewhat similar to Wodehouse's Drones Club, but of course I may be wrong.
ReplyDeleteJournalists sell out easily.
ReplyDeleteI have seen reporters, actual investigative reporters, cover good stories for small papers in metro areas.
They would sneer at the big metro dailies while they worked the smaller paper, but jumped at the chance to get on the big papers.
In short order, they would adopt the style of writing they criticized for so long.
Of course, with TV, it's all hair and smile, no reporting skills required. Talking heads don't need to know anything.
We see similar accommodation when bloggers join a cable network. The word processor is replaced by an Etch-a-Sketch. Same when bloggers join a big metro daily.
Of course, having one's income go up by a factor of 20 can change one's loyalties, can't it?
I'd like to amend the late Molly Ivins' line "born on third base and thought he hit a triple" in regards to these formerly middle class millionaire "journalists" who still claim to be regular Joes.
ReplyDeleteDrew a walk without swinging the bat, got sacrified to second, then sacrificed to third, and thought they hit a triple.
Why would anyone name a country club after Chevy Chase?
ReplyDeleteI love what you guys are usually up too. This kind of clever work and coverage keeps me reading!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the very good work. I've added you guys to my personal blogroll.
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