The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Accountability Journalism
The Associated Press’s Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, previewing the health-care summit, delivers a great illustration of why this genre of “reporting” [accountability journalism] is so awful. It’s got both puffery and cynical attitudinizing, but very little substance:
Cue the cameras. President Barack Obama and his Republican arch foes will argue their case on health care overhaul at a bipartisan summit expected to stretch out for a solid six hours on live, daytime television Thursday for millions of Americans.
Expect them to collide, not come together. Without a no-nonsense referee to slam the gavel on mind-fogging jargon, not to mention apocalyptic rhetoric, some viewers might wish Judge Judy was presiding.
Obama is hoping to resurrect his signature issue and restore his reputation as a different kind of politician who can deliver real results. Congressional leaders of both parties are worried about self-preservation and political control in the November elections.
Apart from the time and duration of the meeting, these three paragraphs are entirely fact-free. …
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