The disturbing cognitive decline of the American political press

I must say that Jim VandeHei’s use of NOTES and PRE-SCREENED QUESTIONS raises shadows and casts many questions:

Here is a screenshot of Jim VandeHei using notes to conduct an interview. https://t.co/lhQsAofFJB pic.twitter.com/TQTAChwqOn— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) February 23, 2024

Any criticism of obviously disproportionate or otherwise misguided coverage of Democratic candidates is inevitably met with some tiresome “are you saying our job is to be cheerleaders for the Democratic Party” strawman. But that’s not the actual issue. The Clinton Foundation was indeed a very legitimate target for investigative journalism; that doesn’t make it defensible to do an investigation, find nothing at all, and then write it up like you found some huge scandal anyway. Similarly, Biden’s age is a legitimate source of concern, but that doesn’t justify a massive wave of redundant stories drowning out every other consideration about the election. And it especially doesn’t justify treating behavior that is completely routine among both politicians and journalists of all ages as some kind of major red flag. It’s not actually hard to tell the difference between a legitimate story and a hysterical feeding frenzy pushing a Republican narrative.