Salon Radio: David Cay Johnston on the bailout
I spoke with Johnston today about the pending bailout, the panic (and resulting acquiescence) that has been successfully injected into the American public, Johnston's very piercing critiques of the coverage of the financial crisis by his former colleagues in "journalism" (or, as he puts it, "by the actors who play the role of journalists on TV"), and the profound changes among both the journalistic culture and journalists themselves since he first became a reporter several decades ago. More than a week ago, as the crisis was unfolding, Johnston wrote a piece at Poynter.org admonishing journalists not to cover government claims uncritically, and at TNR a couple of days ago, he surveyed some of the coverage and detailed just how resoundingly that admonition was ignored.
I highly recommend this interview, as Johnston's observations about both the bailout and journalism are quite incisive and well-stated. It is roughly 20 minutes in length and can be heard by clicking PLAY on the recorder below. The transcript is here.
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