The myth of journalism

It really is no good

Let’s start off with a wonderful quote from Karl Kraus (1874-1936), the acerbic Austrian writer, whose image serves as the avatar for this Substack: “A journalist is a person without any ideas but with an ability to express them; a writer whose skill is improved by a deadline: the more time he has, the worse he writes.”

The modern era of investigative journalism began in the wake of the Watergate break-in. (17 June 1972). For reasons never fully explained, Nixon’s campaign, massively ahead in the polls, which would go on to achieve a huge landslide victory, thought it was a good idea to burglarize the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The perps were arrested almost immediately, and the fallout from this farce dominated the news for over a year.

Two previously unknown reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, became famous, and a months-long congressional investigation was launched. It would be revealed—decades later—that their source, code-named “Deep Throat,” was none other than Mark Felt, then a deputy director of the FBI. Evidently, Felt resented the fact that he was not appointed FBI Director after the death of J. Edgar Hoover, and was only too eager to throw dirt on Richard Nixon (then president).

The ensuing scandal grew to epic proportions, implicating several White House officials, eventually leading to the resignation of President Nixon on 8 August 1974. Cold comfort that the downfall of Tricky Dick Nixon was simply payback for his role in the unmasking of former darling of the Left, Alger Hiss.

Hiss (1904-1996) was a high-ranking State Department official, who was exposed as a Communist spy by his former espionage colleague, Whittaker Chambers. Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950, and was sent to prison—always proclaiming his innocence. It was not until 1996, and the release of the Venona documents, that it was finally proven—to the satisfaction of virtually everyone—that Hiss was indeed a spy.

The bigger takeaway is that the FDR and Truman administrations were woefully naive regarding the extent of Soviet infiltration. And, even worse—for the Left—is that Joe McCarthy was right. At the very least, the Lefties could be called Communist sympathizers, or just plain stupid. How awful for them that Hiss, this handsome, WASPy figure with a flawless pedigree be exposed as a Commie! Leading the charge against Hiss was Nixon, who pretty much jump-started his career on the affair.

Contemporary press coverage of Hiss varied, as more accusations emerged. Still, the prevailing narrative of the Left-leaning media was that he was an ardent New Dealer and an idealist. Surely, we can’t fault him too much for that. Besides, he was one of the founders of the United Nations. Try putting that into a post-Venona context.

As to Venona, bear in mind that 1996 was quite early for the Web, and in the preceding years, there was little availability of alternative media. If you fast-forward to the present, you would think that the elite media would take more care to be fair and balanced—but you would be wrong. Breitbart has compiled a list of ridiculous fake news stories promoted by the legacy media—few of which were ever retracted.

As to the current state of “investigative journalism,” it is to laugh. Did you ever see a story on irregularities in the 2020 presidential election—except those dismissing any concerns? Did you ever see a single piece questioning the official response to COVID? How about anything on exactly who organizes and pays for all those “peaceful protests”?

Let’s conclude with three more quotes from Karl Kraus:

“The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people meaner.”

“Stupidity is an elemental force for which no earthquake is a match.”

“To be sure, the dog is loyal. But why, on that account, should we take him as an example? He is loyal to man, not to other dogs.”