Things as They Are Are Changed Upon the Blue Guitar

Maybe it’s just me, but I found Marc Ambinder’s reply to my post on the press and perceptions of John McCain to be tellingly defensive. Nowhere did I write that the press should be blamed for McCain getting a bounce from his convention and nowhere did I attempt to start a “Greenwaldian debate about the duties, obligations and frustrations of the press.”

All I was observing is that it’s perverse for members of the press to make claims about how dishonest campaign tactics are likely to play that treats themselves as non-participants in the process. Creating false beliefs in the public about yourself and your opponent is politically helpful. But acquiring a reputation as a liar is politically damaging. And the public gets a lot of information through the press. Thus, the political impact of telling a lie will have a lot to do with how the media chooses to cover it. If John McCain’s decision to release an ad that contains a thoroughly debunked lie about his running mate’s record was greeted with lead stories on network news about John McCain has a reputation as a straight-talker but really he’s a big fat liar, that would be bad for McCain. But they haven’t covered it that way. They have, however, actually drawn some attention to the fact that McCain is lying, which is good. But what they really haven’t done is created a narrative about how lying — in particular, lying about Barack Obama’s tax plan and lying about Sarah Palin’s record — has moved to a central place in John McCain’s campaign. Perhaps the press has good reason for doing this. But Marc shouldn’t treat himself as a passive observer of the fact that McCain can get away with lying, he’s one of a countable number of people who are in a position to substantially influence the narrative around McCain and his campaign.

As for the duties and obligations of the press, unlike Glenn Greenwald I don’t talk about that stuff because I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside a lot of journalists over the years and know that, self-righteousness aside, working journalists don’t in practice operate as if they have any particular duties or obligations beyond the basic self-interest that drives people in all lines of work.