The Tremendous Agony

Of monkeys flying out of my butt as I realize I actually agree with Tim Graham about something. Romenesko:

I'm more annoyed by Tom Rosenstiel's kvetching to Mark Jurkowitz about ideological media critics. "Frankly, [for] reporters who cover the news business, it makes our lives more complicated." What he's really trying to say is what Pat Mitchell of PBS has tried to say: liberal critics who say reporters are tools of the right are no better than conservative critics who say reporters are tools of the left. Both ruin attempts to view the news business as a lofty Mount Olympus of nonpartisanship and the public good. Both drain away the perceived authority of the news business in the public mind. But why should the media elite be the only powerful sector of society that goes uncriticized for their political actions? I can't imagine Rosenstiel complaining about how reporters make the lives of elected officials more "complicated."