20 Feb 2006 Cheney Burped Today; Was Press Given the Full Story?

Howard Kurtz says:

Nothing makes journalists madder than the feeling that they’re not getting the full story…

I’m sure Kurtz’s formulation has great appeal for those (journalists all) who believe the journalists-as-truth-tellers mythology, but I doubt the irritation Kurtz identifies is even in the top ten.

Something that would place higher would be “Nothing makes journalists madder than the feeling a competitor journalist got the story first…” (Getting the truth to the public is less important than getting credit for getting, well, whatever, to the public.)

Something else that would place higher would be “Nothing makes journalists madder than realizing the target of a corruption or incompetence allegation is just as likely to be honest and/or competent…” (For such tragic circumstances, the art of insinuation was invented.)

Something else that would place higher would be “Nothing makes journalists madder than learning they are not the center of the universe…”

Okay, I overreached on that last one. That hypothesis remains untested.