12/13/2005
The Emperor's New Political Editor
Over at the DCDL site I go over the story so far with Dan Froomkin, Howell, and Harris.
It's not a trivial story. Harris is advocating for a less visible role for White House criticism. You can parse it how you like, but that's what it boils down to. While it's true that his comments shouldn't be confused with Ombudsman Howell's tin-eared remarks, he hasn't exactly distanced himself from them either.
Jay Rosen at Pressthink has published interviews with Harris and Froomkin. I want to spend a little more time looking at the interview, but I thought this exchange was telling:
Q: You also said, “I perceive a good bit of his commentary on the news as coming through a liberal prism—or at least not trying very hard to avoid such perceptions.” But you don’t give any examples or links to past columns, and Deborah Howell, who also made this point, doesn’t give any examples, so it’s hard for readers to judge what these observations are based on. Could you help me out here? What issues does WHB tend to view through a liberal prism? Can you point to columns that you had in mind? You also say that it may be true that Froomkin would do the column the same way if Kerry had won the ‘04 election; but if that’s so, doesn’t that undercut the notion of a liberal prism?Shorter Harris: I don't want to agree with RNC blogger Ruffini, but I'll post a link to him that's close to my own viewpoint. Yes, I know there's a famous quote about TV never having gone broke by underestimating the intelligence of its viewers (paraphrasing Twain, I believe), but is that what Harris thinks of the Washington Post's readership?
John Harris: How Dan would be writing about a Kerry administration is obviously an imponderable. Does Dan present a liberal worldview? Not always, but cumulatively I think a great many people would say yes—enough that I don’t want them thinking he works for the news side of the Post.
Without agreeing with the views of this conservative blogger who took on Froomkin, I would say his argument does not seem far-fetched to me.
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