It's ancient history and too much to describe in a small blog post, but the overwhelming ethos of the political press in the 90s and pre-9/11 aughts was that NOTHING FUCKING MATTERED. It was all just a show, and journalists were all extras jostling for a speaking role. That the same people were tasked with suddenly understanding that oh crap maybe things do matter helped usher in the subsequent hell decade, but at least, for a moment, they realized that maybe politics had consequences.
