Just the slant, Ma’am.

We now live in a docudrama world in which techniques of fiction and nonfiction are starting to blur. Many reporters think objectivity is a myth. They see journalism as inherently a subjective exercise in which the feelings and the will of the journalist function to reveal the truth of what has occurred. Two results are the emotional commitment to powerful but untrue story lines, and a further loss of credibility for the press.

--John Leo, New York Sun

Leo made his comment after unearthing this gem from Newsweek’s Evan Thomas about his magazine's dubious reporting on the Duke non-rape case — "The narrative was right but the facts were wrong." Oops, but who cares?

I would make these points about the media:

1. The heavyweights are under real pressure: newspapers from internet competition, network news from cable, entertainment TV, even YouTube.
2. Media proliferation has freed the big guys from a former obligation to be objective.
3. Media got used to running the country during Vietnam-Watergate, 1967-74, and explained away previous Republican victories in 1980 (Reagan) and 1994 (Gingrich) as caused by media pummeling of Carter (1977-80) and Clinton (1993-94).
4. In any case, media by 1995 shifted to partisan cheerleading, openly backing Clinton during the impeachment process.
5. Bush’s triumph in 2000, turning Washington into a Republican city (the GOP also controlled Congress) in the face of full-on media opposition, directly threatened media control of the national agenda.
6. In the media’s view, Bush blew it when he invaded Iraq and handed media the club needed to end his power.
7. The GOP triumph in 2004 made the task of ridding the nation of Republicans more urgent than ever; Democrats’ winning in 2006 vindicates media’s partisan warfare against Republicans.

Republicans share responsibility for media warfare. They could have caved to the media’s agenda-setting power, rather than fighting it head-on and ultimately losing.

Here are some media successes in playing with the truth:

1. Treating Iraq as a daily story of Americans dying and being maimed when we’ve lost fewer soldiers in Iraq than in any major U.S. military action save the War of 1812 and Gulf War I.
2. Selling the “Bush lied” Iraq story when the world—not just Bush—thought Saddam had WMDs, when Iraq did try to buy yellowcake from Niger, and when Bush never blamed Saddam for 9.11.
3. Downplaying American prosperity since 2002; obsessing on gas prices when they go up, not down.
4. Marketing Bush’s prescription drug plan as a failure.
5. Scaring seniors about social security cuts when Bush tried linking payments to stock market gains (“privatization”).
6. Making “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job!” the most famous eight words coming out of the Katrina natural disaster.

Other media successes overplay actual GOP failures:

1. Educating the country on Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and especially Mark Foley (all punished or removed from power before the 2006 elections).
2. Taking out Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) with the “macaca” story (Washington Post).
3. Providing the megaphone, now that Democrats have Congress, for nonstop investigations of Bush administration foibles.