MICKEY KAUS comments on David Broder’s what’s-gone-wrong-with-journalism take:

The “damaging failures” were the failures of hazed and certified members of the journalistic caste (Rather, Raines, Kelley)–professionals who had come up through the ranks, worked their beats and were in theory “deeply imbued with the culture and values of newsrooms.” … Broder blames bloggers, politicos, good writers–everyone except those who actually did the screwing up. Projection! The obvious possibility he doesn’t want to consider is the one Shafer hammers: That the practices of Broder’s profession were never that terrific.

As I’ve said before, I don’t know what worries me more — the thought that the standards of journalism have been slipping recently, or the thought that, maybe, it’s been this bad all along and we just couldn’t tell before. . . .

UPDATE: More here: “The veteran Washington Post columnist penned an almost note-perfect epitaph for the age of monolithic media by somehow confusing thread-bare bloggers with celebrity-chasing corporate chieftains. Evidently all that matters to Broder is that there exist people outside of the priestly caste of High Journalism who make news decisions. And that is wrong, heresy perhaps.” RatherGate is really bothering these guys.