From a reader:
Dear Jonah:
Fox is popular because Fox is populist. Just so. I’m amazed that CNN et al don’t get it. In the not too distant past, some stuffed shirts at Columbia had a great money making idea: let’s pretend that journalism is a profession and that objectivity is both possible and preferable to good old fashioned reporting.
The results aren’t pretty. Mike Wallace pretends that he worships at the altar of objectivity when everyone knows that he’s famous because he’s fantastically rude. No one expects objectivity. I think we only want honesty, and of course a decent respect for the truth will generally lead a reporter toward some semblance of balance, but let’s drop the objectivity charade.
Fox sells because Fox is unabashedly American. We red state knuckle draggers like that. The New York Times, and much of the main stream media are struggling now because they believe their own bull shit. Ernie Pyle labored under no such foolishness. He got into the thick of things and told great stories about real Americans for real Americans. Can you imagine Maureen Dowd in camo?
The new media, especially the blogoshphere, represents a populist revolt. Poor Modo’s locked in her penthouse while the barbarians take to the streets. Let her eat Spam.