La trahison des clercs (continued)

Michael Knox Berran at NRO has a fine short article on the collapse of the integrity and seriousness of the mainstream media. A sample:

Having been corrupted into a semi-official state press, America’s mainstream media is now transforming the most important election in a generation into the political equivalent of an episode of The Bachelor. Liberalism’s scribal class is actually pleased that the contest has become a referendum not on the president’s record or his plans but on his charisma and popularity. In the kingdom of vapor, substance has no place.

This is how republics die, in thrall to the inane, the frivolous, and the inconsequential. A liberalism incapable of persuading the public to embrace its policies has been converted by its media tribunes into a publicity stunt. As a result, the nation that gave the world the Federalist Papers and the Lincoln–Douglas debates may very well reelect a flawed chief executive for no other reason than that he has been continuously portrayed as a super-nice guy by the media lackeys who tend the Obama cult.

The media’s abdication from its role as an unbiased, fact-finding institution has, of course, been a long-term process, and whatever reputation media outlets have enjoyed in the past for fairness was probably always somewhat exaggerated. But never in my life have I witnessed the combination of trivialization and fan-boy enthusiasm that I am seeing in this election cycle. The poor filmmaker who produced the unflattering movie about Mohammed has been accused by some in the administration of “abusing” free speech. He’s not in the same league with the journalists, reporters, pundits, and talking heads of the major news media who are using free speech to chip away at our liberty (and ultimately theirs, too, though they're too stupid to see it).

Unrelated update: Haw! Via Ace: "If Obama Failed This Badly Cleaning Up The Mess Bush Left For Him, Think About How Badly He'll Do Cleaning Up The Messes That Obama Has Left For Himself"