No Exception

Much ado (as seen here in the Columbia Journalism Review) has been made in journalism circles over the last day or two about Politico’s mysterious editorial deletion of a paragraph in a report about General McChrystal’s controversial, career-ending comments to Rolling Stone.

The excised section in question reportedly opined that freelance writer Michael Hastings, a relative journalistic outsider (i.e., unbeholden) to high-ranking military command in Afghanistan, may have been quicker to print some of the general’s loose-cannon comments than more militarily entrenched reporters, who are more reticent to burn bridges and compromise future access by indiscriminately printing such controversial and, perhaps, off-the-cuff comments. The outrage in the media world is over the suggestion that some entrenched reporters play this game.

Hello!? Is this news? A surprise to anyone? Like it or not, that is how the world works, and journalism is no exception. To think differently is naive. Even Woodward and Bernstein made compromises to ensure future and further access to presumed valuable sources.