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Justin Elliott's interview with Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi over at Campus Progress proves, once again, that although Taibbi is a talented writer, he's also, um, pathological. I won't delve into all the crazy things he says ("I was calling Arthur Sulzberger and pretending to be [Thomas] Friedman and demanding a new parking space. I was like totally obsessed with Friedman for a while there. There was a period when I was doing all these drugs and I had this thing about Friedman..."], but I will respond to his assertion that every reporter on the presidential campaign trail is compromised by big money. This is a myth that discourages young people from entering the profession and believing they can make a difference.
Campus Progress: You said somewhere that the perfect symbol for the press corps of the 2004 presidential campaign was Candy Crowley from CNN sitting on the bus with cookie crumbs spilling out of her mouth, talking about how ugly Dennis Kucinich was. Is there any reason to hope for a better media performance this cycle round?Taibbi: No, it’s all the same. And, you know, it’s not that a lot of these people are bad people. It’s a mistake to go into it saying that these people are all elitist snobs like David Brooks really is. A lot of them are Ivy Leaguers, they all come from a certain class. And you can’t be on the campaign trail unless you work for a massively funded organization. It costs like 3,000 or 4,000 bucks a day to cover the presidential election, just to be on the plane. Some big money has to be behind you. The group of people who end up being on the bus are a group of upper-class people who are all from the same general background, and they’re familiar and comfortable with each other and they’re comfortable with the candidates culturally. They’re living the high life when they’re on the trail, they’re mostly staying in five-star hotels. They get these delicious catered meals served to them four or five times a day. You get chocolates on your pillow, you get the best musicians in the city coming out to play for you everywhere you go. It’s like a big summer camp, like a big field trip.Let's ignore the mean-spirited dig at Crowley and get to the meat. It's true that many campaign reporters hail from a similar socioeconomic background as the candidates. But here at The American Prospect, we're busy planning our election 2008 coverage on a very tight budget. I assure you, we will be reporting on the ground, and we won't be staying at 5-star hotels, getting chocolates on our pillows, or eating delicious catered meals. The good news is, thanks to online journalism, our voices will be amplified louder than ever. In short, if alternative campaign coverage is what you're looking for, 2007-2008 is a pretty damn good time to be alive.--Dana Goldstein