Filter out the constant carping about the press's liberal bias, and Tom Delay's Politico op-ed on how the press is failing is actually somewhat on-point. "The biggest problem," he writes, "is that reporters are perfectly happy to let the stories come to them rather than going out and finding them. The vast majority of all newspaper articles, and political stories in particular, are based on press releases."
Well, it's not just press releases: There are official quotes, too! But DeLay's got it partly right. No small number of the stories you read in a day are based off of straight spin. Not hidden spin, or internal bias, but documents and spokespeople whose official job is to direct the thrust of reportage. Few reporters are experts in the field they cover, and fewer yet are able to say what they think about the field they cover. It's all rather asymmetrically arranged, and to the detriment of the reader. Tom DeLay, of course, was very effective at manipulating these weaknesses when he was in office, but that's all the more reason to listen if he says press releases are the foundation upon which modern journalism is built.
