Another Gatekeeper Cries in His Champagne

Washington Post columnist William Raspberry becomes the one-millionth journalist to decry the corrupting influence of that danged Internet, whining inaccurately that "it has made serious journalism -- political journalism in particular -- a hundred times more difficult." Excerpt:

What has changed in the years since Gennifer Flowers, says Rieder, is that a handful of national newspapers no longer can operate as journalistic gatekeepers -- effectively blocking stories that are unverified or unverifiable and driven by people whose political motivations are plain to see.

The problem is that anyone with Web access can run any cockamamie story up the flagpole -- and if enough people salute, prompt the mainstream press to deploy its resources.

It's that bad -- and it isn't likely to get better any time soon.

Well, at least he's open about his paternalism, and his distaste for media diversity and stories that sound even vaguely conspiratorial. I suggested a different strategy for confronting political rumors in the November issue (short answer: figure out whether they're true), and defended the gossip-mongers back in May.