Society's Child
American media have performed dizzying feats of wild speculation in the run-up to the Helsinki meeting on July 16, perhaps best exemplified by a particularly zealous New York Magazine article which suggested that the "private" meeting between Trump and Putin could be "less a negotiation between two heads of state than a meeting between a Russian-intelligence asset and his handler."
Similar evidence-deficient outbursts can be found in the pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post - raising questions about loosening standards at outlets once hailed as models of journalistic excellence.
But even more brazen Russia-baiting can be found on television. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow - the poster girl of 'Putin ate my homework' journalism - rarely goes without launching into a tirade about Moscow's nefarious plots against America.
As Gazdiev points out, her program was the most-watched US news show in March. Journalism, it seems, has become just another form of entertainment.






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