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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Progress Report on Beltway Attempts to Breed Completely Shame-Free Media Meat Units

Open Thread: Progress Report on Beltway Attempts to Breed Completely Shame-Free Media Meat Units

by Anne Laurie|  June 11, 20157:39 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment

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Nothing dispels the impression of Beltway media circlejerk favoritism like an instantaneous Beltway media wagon circlejerk.

— Big Sexy Jeb Lund (@Mobute) June 10, 2015

Yes, the only thing more boring than actual inside baseball sportstalk is journamalistic inside baseball, but it sure does churn up the internets. Elias Isquith, at Salon, with the shorter:

… On Tuesday, the Washington Post published a piece by Ben Terris, a reporter for their Style section, about Benny Johnson. For those lucky enough not to know already, Johnson is the content director for IJReview — a wannabe BuzzFeed for the Michelle Malkin set — but is better known as the guy who was fired from the actual BuzzFeed after being exposed as a rampant, shameless and frankly incompetent plagiarist. (That exposé came after Johnson had accused others — namely, IJReview! — of plagiarizing his work.) Readers of Salon, however, may better know him as the third-biggest hack of 2013.

Because Johnson is not only a liar and a thief, but has also built a career on pandering to his conservative audience’s baser instincts (often by relying on racism and homophobia), the profile was bound to cause a stir. This would have been true regardless of whether the piece had been a crowd-pleasing takedown, a contrarian defense, or a rumination on media economics that used Johnson as a means to write about something deeper. Call it the “BuzzFeed Benny” effect.

Unfortunately, Terris’s article was none of these things. Instead, it was a typically superficial profile that leaned heavily on the idea that Johnson is representative of the millennial generation. Yet because the prose read at times more like a PR pitch than journalism, many readers couldn’t agree on how the article wanted its subject to look. Yes, it revealed that Johnson is still lying: this time, about the “friends” who consoled him after his disgrace. But it also suggested Johnson was a harmless airhead, a “creative” guy who lets his imagination “get him a little carried away.”

Journalists write bad pieces all of the time, though. So that’s not why Terris’s article offered such a useful window into what’s wrong with the press. No, the real reason it was valuable was not so much the piece itself as the reaction it inspired. Because once some other journalists began looking into whether and how Terris and Johnson knew each other, the double-standard that the elite media holds itself to became obvious. And it was an embarrassment…

In Alex Pareene’s (excellent) 2013 Hack List post, he quotes Buzzfeed as saying “Benny is a great native talent of the social web with politics in his blood” who will “make the sort of smart, entertaining, and compelling political content people want to share.” Which sounds to me like “We needed a professional internet troll,” but then, I’m a Cynic that way.

the smart criticism of the Benny piece is "a light ironic touch is not a tone that successfully conveys the awfulness of certain people"

— the beverage hunk (@pareene) June 10, 2015

Which is the criticism you could also level against Leibovich's "This Town."

— the beverage hunk (@pareene) June 10, 2015

but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to come away from both feeling like everything is shit and assholes rule the world

— the beverage hunk (@pareene) June 10, 2015

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Reader Interactions

56Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 11, 2015 at 7:44 pm

    Nuke the Village from space.

    Only way to be sure.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    June 11, 2015 at 7:44 pm

    That was hard to follow.

  3. 3.

    Karen in GA

    June 11, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    So this is a millennial Mike Barnacle thing, then?

    By the way, since it’s an open thread: Iggy tells Muppet what he really thinks.

  4. 4.

    Howard Beale IV

    June 11, 2015 at 7:50 pm

    BREAKING: Ruby Dee dies, age 91.

  5. 5.

    EthylEster

    June 11, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    @Baud:

    That was hard to follow.

    Why would one even try?

    AL wrote:

    but it sure does churn up the internets

    Isn’t that what YOU are doing?
    Surely you have better things to inform us about.

  6. 6.

    Karen in GA

    June 11, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Oh, come ON with the deaths today!

    ETA: Too many greats gone today. Very sad.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 7:59 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    This has been a very bad day for deaths. Christopher Lee, Ron Moody, Ornette Coleman, and now Ruby Dee.

    I thought the whole idea behind the Rule of Three was that you probably wouldn’t get to four.

    May they all R.I.P.

    ETA: Karen in GA got there first, expressing identical sentiments.

  8. 8.

    raven

    June 11, 2015 at 8:06 pm

    Damn, Mother Sister.

  9. 9.

    scav

    June 11, 2015 at 8:09 pm

    I’ll spare a thought also for a man who counted backwards to zero: Launch commentator for Apollo 11 moon shot, Jack King, dies

  10. 10.

    the Conster

    June 11, 2015 at 8:10 pm

    Apparently all the wrong people are dying.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    @raven:

    Yes, and Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. I was incredibly lucky to see her (opposite Sidney Poitier) in the touring company of Raisin when it came to Chicago in, probably, 1960 or ’61.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    June 11, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I had read about the deaths of all but Ruby Dee. Very sad. What a great career in drama, film, and TV. And her political activism. She gave the eulogy at Malcolm X’s funeral.

    The rule of three thing is just an urban legend that will not die. Some of this might be that the average person only knows about three of the many prominent people who die on any given day.

  13. 13.

    Tommy

    June 11, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    Every day for many years I walked into my office and had a print edition of the WSJ, NYT, and Washington Post laid out on my desk. It was just where I got my news. Then this thing happened called the Internet.

    Those days are long, long gone where I get my news from only those sources. Sure I still read them from links. But I pride myself on knowing shit and I find places like Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, Hullabaloo, Think Progress, and Media Matters all inform me in ways the “traditional” pubs do not.

    When I see the “media elites” get in a pissing match over this or that I just laugh. I used to live on Capital Hill. Regular at a bar where many media figures we all see on TV went from time to time. They were not regulars and us “normal” people would laugh and mock them.

    Maybe in their inter-circle Georgetown parties they are cool and hip. But outside that, even in DC, much less the rest of America, you guys and gals are a joke.

    Go out an report something unique and maybe I might respect you a little more.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    @scav:

    Didn’t know his name, but I can never forget his voice. I should just create an “R.I.P.” macro so I can quit typing it out all day long.

    Don’t mean to be flip. The world is richer for having had all these people in it, and I sincerely hope they all do R.I.P.

    *********

    And yet Dick Cheney lives on.

  15. 15.

    MomSense

    June 11, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    Nocturnal emissions are not what comes out of your car’s tailpipe while driving at night. #the talk

  16. 16.

    raven

    June 11, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ah nice, she led a rich life.

  17. 17.

    Iowa Old Lady

    June 11, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    I feel fortunate that I have no idea who any of these people are.

  18. 18.

    karen marie

    June 11, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    @Baud: Agreed. I do not know who any of these people are, but from what little I understood, I haven’t missed anything. Buzz who?

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:19 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I was stunned to see that Ozzie Davis (Edit: Ruby Dee’s husband in case anyone didn’t know) died in 2005. If anyone had asked me, I would have said probably a couple of years ago — certainly not a full decade.

    Time does weird things these days. Maybe it always did, but I’m noticing it a lot more now.

  20. 20.

    MomSense

    June 11, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    @Karen in GA:

    Too many greats is right.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    @raven:

    She did lead a rich life, and for once, I think it’s fair to say that she was appropriately honored for her accomplishments during her lifetime, instead of as a posthumous afterthought. Really a wonderful actor, and as Brachiator noted at #12, she was a significant activist on behalf of all the right stuff.

  22. 22.

    Another Holocene Human

    June 11, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    @Karen in GA: Did he write about old retired dudes’ masturbatory habits? Then yes.

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 11, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Can we evac the decent people first? I do know of a few.

  24. 24.

    Another Holocene Human

    June 11, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    @Tommy: Georgetown: It’s Not Even On The Metro

  25. 25.

    Another Holocene Human

    June 11, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    @karen marie: I remember the plagiarism thing. The most shocking part was that Buzzfeed fired him. I always took Buzzfeed for a kinder, gentler Republican front. Maybe he was making that too obvious. Or maybe the managers started believing their own hype. Seen some reporting recently that all is still not well with Buzzfeed’s journalmalism-ism department.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    June 11, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Gosh I awoke to find out that it was Wednesday and now I’m discovering a year late that Ruby Dee died.
    She died last year.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    June 11, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Collateral damage.

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    UPDATE CORRECTION

    Well, it seems that Ruby Dee died a year ago today. I had put an RIP up on FB, and a kind friend posted the correction.

    None of which takes away my hopes that she is resting in peace, nor my opinion that she was a terrific actor.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    June 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: As I mentioned above, Anne had a Wednesday open thread this morning, so nothing is as it is.

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    June 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    @Baud:

    It’s beyond “inside baseball.” It’s like “inside AA baseball.”

  31. 31.

    EthylEster

    June 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    regarding Ruby Dee, check out this video “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0153116/)

    the cast is incredible. al freeman, jr. & blythe danner & much more

  32. 32.

    Baud

    June 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    It was almost cricket.

  33. 33.

    Karen in GA

    June 11, 2015 at 8:35 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: So she beat the rush, then, given all the other greats filing out today.

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    June 11, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    @Karen in GA:

    Funny!

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    @Karen in GA:

    LOL. I told you she was talented.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    @JPL:

    I saw the Wednesday morning open thread, and such is the joy of being retired that I didn’t even realize anything was off until I saw comments from you and others making the correction.

  37. 37.

    Valdivia

    June 11, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    @MomSense: oh boy!

  38. 38.

    Redshift

    June 11, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    This is hilarious. From a graphic designer, The 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates’ Logos, Ranked.

  39. 39.

    Germy Shoemangler

    June 11, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: There is something called the “Ruby Dee Effect”

    From an interview:

    Diana Sands never gave a public performance that was as good as her rehearsals. The public performances were terrific, but she was terrified of the Ruby Dee effect. Ruby Dee got reviews that an actress waits an entire lifetime for. Had she been white the phone would have rung off the hook. But it never rang once and it almost killed her. Diana was afraid of that. She finally got what she longed for. She was the leading lady at the Lincoln Center and got to play all the great roles…

  40. 40.

    BruceFromOhio

    June 11, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    Progress Report on Beltway Attempts to Breed Completely Shame-Free Media Meat Units

    This is one of the most awesome post titles I have ever seen on this site. Or any site.

  41. 41.

    Valdivia

    June 11, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    @Redshift: Absolutely hilarious. Loved the caustic commentary.

  42. 42.

    Geeno

    June 11, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Huh – Wikipedia says
    Born Ruby Ann Wallace
    October 27, 1922
    Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
    Died June 11, 2015 (aged 92)
    New Rochelle, New York, U.S.

    June 11, 2015 is today isn’t it?

  43. 43.

    Germy Shoemangler

    June 11, 2015 at 9:29 pm

    @Geeno: She died a year ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Dee

    I remember reading about it last year.

  44. 44.

    Tree With Water

    June 11, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    [picture the hysterical Britney Spears video guy]: “Leave Jerry Seinfeld alo-oh-ne!!!”.

  45. 45.

    BruceFromOhio

    June 11, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    @Redshift: The comments are another work of art. Thank you for sharing that, going viral … now.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    @Geeno:

    Odd. The text says 2014 but the sidebar with the boilerplate info says 2015. Wikipedia is usually a bit more on the ball.

    Now that I’ve checked several sources, I’m pretty confident in saying that she died on this date in 2014.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    June 11, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    @EthylEster: Blythe Danner was young, gifted and black? Who knew?

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    @Brachiator:

    How do you think Gwyneth Paltrow got to be so fly?

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    June 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    @the Conster:

    Apparently all the wrong people are dying.

    Well said!

  50. 50.

    danielx

    June 11, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    I must have missed this….

    David Brooks Says Hillary Can Have ‘Bipartisan Governing Coalition’ If She Just Copies Obama Campaign

    Speaking of elite media douchebags: any Democrat following David Brooks’ advice on how to be elected and to govern should automatically be disqualified for any public office whatsoever.

    Six figure salary for writing complete horseshit? Nice work if you can get it.

  51. 51.

    Valdivia

    June 11, 2015 at 9:46 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: FTW.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    June 11, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I was home I’ll when a TV station was showing the complete run of various TV shows. I caught an episode of The Fugitive featuring Diana Sands as the wife of a diplomat (played by Ivan Dixon) who gives the fugitive sanctuary. Good episode.

    I must have known that Ruby Dee died last year. I think she may have been included in the Oscars montage.

  53. 53.

    jl

    June 11, 2015 at 9:59 pm

    OK, just getting to the top of first the block quote. THAT’s the ‘shorter’? Effit. This is either going to be hilarious epic derpitude, or a boring shaggy dog tale.

  54. 54.

    Steeplejack

    June 11, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    New York Times obituary from last year.

  55. 55.

    jl

    June 11, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    OK, I guess it’s a mildly informative piece about national affairs and political journalism in these, our great United States, today. Not hilarious but not totally boring.

    Not news that, by now, maybe most of supposed factual and informative background pieces from this group are dishonest editorializing, PR puff pieces, beat sweeteners, and incestuous back scratching.

    By degrees we get used to it. Hey, I’ve read that the reality shows, even the most gripping and compelling, like the Kardashian abd Sole Survivor epics, are actually scripted. I am slowly climbing the lower rungs of the cult of savvy.

  56. 56.

    jl

    June 11, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    in moderation, wonder what it was:

    OK, I guess it’s a mildly informative piece about national affairs and political journalism in these, our great United States, today. Not hilarious but not totally boring.

    Not news that, by now, maybe most of supposed factual and informative background pieces from this group are dishonest editorializing, PR puff pieces, beat sweeteners, and * nc ^ st *o * s back scratching.

    By degrees we get used to it. Hey, I’ve read that the reality shows, even the most gripping and compelling, like the K_rd_shi_n and Sole Survivor epics, are actually scripted. I am slowly climbing the lower rungs of the cult of savvy.

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