Elite In Their Minds Only

Only in today’s beltway and current media and political culture is a furor such as that over the Cheney hunting incident possible. The incident itself was fairly benign in nature; an honest but unfortunate mistake. That it carries little, if any, relevant or news-worthy substance is painfully implicit.

Nevertheless, that news of the incident was not released to the press until the next day, and to a small-town Texas newspaper no less, agitated the Washington press corps into a state of furious and righteous indignation. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was berated by the White House press corps early in the week, most notably NBC correspondent David Gregory, for the delay and the supposed affront the vice president’s lack of forthcomingness had been on the "public’s right to know".

This behavior raises one really serious question, unrelated to those pointedly directed at Mr. McCllelan. It is one which I doubt David Gregory and his colleagues would have a good answer to. Instead of focusing on the real substantive issues of the day—such as Iraq, Iran, the NSA intercept program, etc.—why did the Washington press corps spend the entire week preoccupied with the fact that they weren’t given immediate notice of a meaningless hunting accident in which the vice president of the United States happened to be a party to?

It is perfectly legitimate to quibble—probably meaningless and small-minded, but legitimate—over whether, as a matter of public and press relations, it would have been wiser to release a public statement earlier, immediately after the victim had been taken care of and the proper authorities had been notified. But such a minor question or controversy surely does not warrant the veritable eruption we witnessed this past week, as if "Quailgate" was a modern equivalent to Watergate. Instead of doing their job by providing insightful and objective reporting on the meaningful news and issues of our time, the Washington press corps indulged in an unbecoming tantrum because they, the elite Washington press corps for goodness sake, were not informed of the incident until the next day.

Make no mistake, this outcry had nothing to do with any "public right to know", but everything to do with an elitist and narcissist press corps. They betrayed themselves as the unprofessional, sensationalistic, and arrogant horde we all suspected they were.

This faux scandal has demonstrated the Washington press corps is elite not in the exceptional level of work they do or the position they hold in the media profession, but in the value they mistakenly hold in themselves. They are elite in their own minds only.