My favorite topic

John Ashcroft gets more criticism for his preference for sound bites over Q & A with print journalists.

Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, has this to say:

"Ashcroft is practicing sheer demagoguery. He knows that, with niftily chosen sound bites, he can dominate local television, which harbors few practitioners of anything that can be called journalism. Since most local TV journalists are little more than stenographers, he can safely stay “on message,” rally his partisans, and keep annoying critics at bay. This is the politics of no-politics, the politics of l’etat-c’est-moi."

David Fellerath of the Durham Independent provides an account of his experience with the A.G.

Ken Cooper, the national editor for the Boston Globe, sat on a panel discussion celebrating the 125th anniversary of Student Life, the campus paper at Washington University, St. Louis.

"You have an administration that philosophically believes in secrecy in government," said Cooper. "It's essential to their view of government."

Someone please shake me when Ashcroft's Patriot Act campaign tour is finally over.