Tobin Harshaw of the New York Times discusses what the ACORN scandal tells us about the mainstream press:

“Work formerly done by reporters and producers is now routinely performed by political operatives and amateur ideologues of one stripe or another, whose goal is not to educate the public but to win. This is a trend not likely to change.”

So writes a very worried Mark Bowden (he of “Blackhawk Down”) in the latest issue of The Atlantic…Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be yet another post lamenting the imperiled future of newspapers. Rather, let’s take a look at something that the Bowden piece predated yet seemingly foresaw. Yes, the video starts with employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, giving advice on gaining child-tax credits for employing underage Salvadoran prostitutes. And then it gets worse. (Writing off condoms!) Well, with Congress having voted to shut off Acorn’s money spigot, I guess we can score one for Bowden’s “every man…”

Yep, the Big Boys are scooped by a couple of novices and then ridiculed by a fake journalist [Jon Stewart] — Mark Bowden, your day of reckoning may be closer than you think …

Tags: ACORN Scandal, Citizen Journalism, Mark Bowden, Mass media, New Media, New York Times

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under Blog, News.