Matthew Engel argues in this Media Guardian editorial that the much decried, but rarely sighted, liberal American media doesn’t exist, especially not in newspapers:

“Most Washington reports consist of stories emanating from inside the government: these may (rarely) be genuine leaks; they may come from officials anxious to brief against rival officials, but that too is rare in this disciplined and corporately-run administration. Most of these stories, which look like impressive scoops at first glimpse, actually come from officials using the press to perform on-message spin. Whatever the category, the papers lap this up, even when it is obvious nonsense, a practice that reached its apogee last year when palpably absurd plans for the invasion of Iraq emerged, allegedly from inside the Pentagon, on to the New York Times front page. “

Oh yes, oh yes.

Previously:

Cogent Media Analysis in Service of Liberal Whining 12/30/02