Glenzilla stomps on Big Media Matt

I think he'll survive, but one hopes it will be with his thinking sharpened a bit by the Glenzillian claws.

Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

After all, if -- as Yglesias argues -- journalists are driven by nothing more than self-interest and nothing more can or should be expected of them, then what possible basis does Yglesias (or anyone else) have for ever criticizing anything that journalists do? If, as is almost certainly the case, many journalists perceive that meek and passive or complict coverage of the Bush administration or the McCain campaign advances their self-interest -- by allowing them to curry favor with important sources, gain access, please their bosses, develop relationships with the next potential President of the U.S. -- then aren't they doing exactly what Yglesias expects them to do and thinks they ought to be doing? How can they be criticized for any of that?

This is the obvious, fatal flaw in Yglesias' argument: complaining about the press given his premise is like an Objectivist complaining about getting mugged. The mugger was, after all, acting in his own self-interest.

Believe it or not, Matt, I betcha there are plenty of journos who have a bit of altruism left in them. Only they don't get the good soapboxes.

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