Culture Complex: The Civil War Behind Civil War

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The ideology of scared media is me-too-ism: straining to show the audience you like what it likes, be it Harry Potter or Donald Rumsfeld. (He's tough! He's funny! He's a sex symbol! The Philadelphia Inquirer dubbed him a "stud muffin.") With the worsening of Iraq, however, coverage became more assertive, and after Hurricane Katrina, reporters found they could question the Administration without being struck dead. With the "civil war" fight--as with erstwhile stud muffin Rumsfeld--the momentum has reversed. It's less important what the press is calling the war than that the White House is no longer calling the terms.

Of course, all this proves is that me-too-ism knows no party. NBC took its public step only after Bush's midterm thumpin'. Middle America may have been led by Cronkite, but now the reins are firmly in the other hand. In a perfect world, the media would be led by the facts, and the audience by its own mind. But if the public is giving the news permission to be more, well, reality-based, then lead on, folks, lead on.