MSM Cannibalism

Howard Kurtz examines the cases of "a line of lonely crusaders," whose work hase been discredited, as with Mary Mapes ("Mapes is right that the . . . memos . . .have not been proven to be forgeries, but is that the standard for broadcasting a serious charge?") and broadens the essay to include journalists, such as Judith Miller, and now Bob Woodward, who have fallen out with their own organizations.

Unfortunately, he presents these stories as some kind of Profiles in Courage,

Perhaps the saddest case involved Gary Webb, a San Jose Mercury News reporter who suggested in a 1996 series that the CIA knew a drug ring linked to the Nicaraguan contras had been selling crack in Los Angeles. When the "Dark Alliance" series caused an uproar, the Mercury News editor concluded after a review (and critical pieces in other major newspapers) that it "fell short" of the paper's standards. Webb, who called the findings "bizarre" and "nauseating," left the paper after being demoted. He committed suicide last year.

I'm not sure that all of these stories are really about the brave investigative journalist destroyed by his employers, but it's always interesting to see how the press views itself.