Steve Marsh

Steve Marsh is a media critic and writer, focusing on how the press reports about national security affairs and foreign policy.

Jay has a superb piece about how Murray Waas is a much more important and useful journalist today than Bob Woodward. Rosen even goes so far as to dance around the claim that Woodward isn't really a journalist anymore, but an insider. What Waas does strikes me as structurally different; he pores through documents, learns everything there is to know, and works sources to find out how decisions are made. He's relentless, and he's focused on the big picture.

Murray Waas is a neutral reporter. FDL and the Left Coaster aren't. Regardless, how is political bias related to credibility? If ou are liberal or conservative, are you an automatic liar? Does it color what you look for so that you are no longer reliable? With all the 'liberal bias' screeching, I've never heard a good answer to this question.

Bloggers are often take to dislike the stupidly named MSM. That's a ridiculous claim; the right-wing movement - on AM radio, national magazines, in the White House - has consistently attacked 'the media'. What progressive bloggers want is a credible media. To us, Bob Woodward is not credible, because his sympathies seem to lie with insiders rather than the public. Murray Waas represents the public.