At a National Press Club event earlier this week, NBC White
House correspondent David Gregory argued that, because is so much polarization
in politics today, “people try to divine or assign our motives”
for asking certain questions at the White House press briefings. When
Helen Thomas asked Gregory what was responsible for the polarization,
Gregory answered:
I think it’s because of the internet largely. The polarized atmosphere
in the internet and blogs and whatnot have been a major contributor
to that.
Watch it:
In February — at a similar event at the Press Club
— Gregory pointed the finger at blogs for the reason that “politics
and political coverage has become so polarized.” Glenn Greenwald
wrote at the time:
The reality, of course, is that most media-criticizing bloggers do
not want journalists to be “political advocates.” They want
them to do what journalists are supposed to do — which is not…sit
around with their good, trustworthy, nice-guy friends in the White House
and simply “ask questions” and “get information,”
but instead to scrutinize that information, treat it with doubt, investigate
it before passing it along to determine whether it’s true.
And the reason bloggers want them to do that, the reason that bloggers
demand more of journalists…is not because bloggers are enraged,
confused, unreasonable partisans. It’s because bloggers are American
citizens who are deeply concerned about what has happened to their country
over the last six years.
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