As reported by Big Journalism, Washington Post “reporter” Ezra Klein was on Capitol Hill last week to brief Democrats on how to handle the failing of the SuperCommittee.
Through the story on Fishbowl DC, the whole thing seemed odd…even to those being briefed by a reporter:
A longtime Washington editor who deals with Capitol Hill regularly also said this is not the norm: “”I have never heard of a reporter briefing staffers. It’s supposed to be the other way around. This arrangement seems highly unusual.”
Klein is famously (see infamously) known for creating the Journ-O-list, an online gathering of 400 left-leaning journalists who shared, in Klein’s words, “…off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions.” The exposure of the list caused the firing of one reporter, and forced Klein to shut down the list days later.
So much is made of the job of the reporter, and their duty to be objective. Klein’s objectivity can not be in doubt….he has none. That would not be a problem, unless, of course, he tries to tell his readers otherwise under the guise that working for The Washington Post gives him a certain credibility. As Big Journalism states:
Is Klein an editorialist, WaPo’s opinions-are-easier-than-facts equivalent to Keith Olbermann? Or is he a journalist, as he would like for his readers to believe, hiding behind the false veneer of objectivity in the hopes people will pass off his propaganda as truth?
Perhaps this a question best asked of The Washington Post.
