Helping the presidency

Submitted by a student:

Professor Culver,

Here is a link to a video of Chris Matthews being interviewed by Joe Scarborough. Matthews says, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work." Is Matthews job to make the presidency work? Or should he strive to provide critical coverage no matter who is in the White House? I just thought it was an interesting ethical question.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/11/06/odd-job-matthews-says-his-role-make-obama-presidency-success

What do you think of that? Is Chris Matthews (or Rachel Maddow or Bill O'Reilly, etc.) a "journalist"? If so, is opinion out of bounds? Can you think of another time a "helpful" approach from the media helped get us into trouble (hmm, perhaps the run-up to the Iraq war?)

More Gundy

The football coach who blew up at a reporter in Oklahoma continues to get ink and air.
Here's an intriguing column from the ESPN ombudsman (sort of a "reader representative") about news cycles vs. opinion cycles. I thought it was one of the more thoughtful pieces on the issue.
And then a 202er sent in this hilarious YouTube video. Be sure you watch the original rant to see why this is so funny.
Do you agree that opinion is spiraling out of control in sports coverage, at the expense of news?