Journos Behaving Badly

The New York Times tells us today about members of the fourth estate transitioning over to the Obama Administration (here – and you guessed it; I also posted over here)…

WASHINGTON — Republicans have long accused mainstream journalists of being on the payroll of President Obama and the Democratic Party, a common refrain of favoritism especially from those on the losing end of an election (see Bush vs. Gore, Clinton vs. Bush and Bush vs. Dukakis).

But this year the accusation has a new twist: In some notable cases it has become true, with several prominent journalists now on the payrolls of Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congressional leadership.

An unusual number of journalists from prominent, mainstream organizations started new government jobs in January, providing new kindling to the debate over whether Mr. Obama is receiving unusually favorable treatment in the news media.

These are not opinionated talkers in the vein of Chris Matthews, the MSNBC host who last year flirted with a run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate — and who more recently said he would do “everything I can to make this thing work” for Mr. Obama.

Yep, Matthews said that (here) – a laudable sentiment, even if it is inappropriate for someone purporting to comment on the news.

In the story, Times reporter Jim Rutenberg points out that former Time correspondent Jay Carney accepted a position as communications director for Vice President Joe Biden, CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in the running for surgeon general (currently taking heat from House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, as noted here – losing both Gupta AND Tom Daschle would definitely be a blow to Obama’s health care initiative, though he has plenty of good people to fall back on) and Douglas Frantz, former managing editor of the LA Times, has gone to work for Sen. John Kerry.

The story continues…

The changes also give fodder to conservatives who have long complained that mainstream journalists are sympathetic to the views of Democrats.

“It is, I think, indicative of a certain affinity,” said Richard Lowry, the editor of National Review. “You would not have seen so many people from mainstream outfits going to work for John McCain.”

Mr. Lowry did not dispute, however, that a McCain administration could have been a job destination for mainstream journalists if he had won in 2000, when he began to refer to reporters as his “base,” a label that fell away in the 2008 campaign.

And as noted here, Rich Lowry is a paragon of media integrity (please).

I don’t think Rutenberg is necessarily “painting with a broad brush” here in an attempt to malign his fellow press mates. A bit of healthy skepticism towards the press when it seems to be favoring one candidate over another in its coverage is a good thing.

However, until the Obama people decide to grant access to a supposed “reporter” who is in fact a political flunky (pictured above) or pay off a member of the punditocracy who is allegedly “fair and balanced” to report his spin as fact (here), I won’t consider the media relations with Obama and his people to be much of an issue.