Driscoll reminds us of some of the bigger media campaigns recently:
There are of course, countless more additional examples than our handful above, where the media long ago concluded that simply reporting straight news was much less satisfying than serving the cause of the good and righteous left. (Feel free to explore the topic further in the comments.)
There was a time when journalists could be just as guilty of advocacy, like in World War II during a British campaign in Ethiopia prior to Pearl Harbor:
Wingate also skillfully employed bluff. He entered one newly liberated Italian fort to find the telephone ringing. An officer at another fort was calling to ask where the British were. Wingate instructed an Italian-speaking American war correspondent to “tell them that a British division ten thousand strong is on its way up the road,” “advising them to clear off.” This the panicked Italians did posthaste.
That was advocacy. But it was advocacy for the forces of the defenders of the West against fascist aggressors.
Of course, it is possible that David Gregory and the rest of the lot who pretend to report news still think they are doing exactly that.
