Editor's Note: If nothing else I found this episode interesting because it shows how much sharper the mind of a genuine radical is, when compared to that of even a bright semi-establshmentarian liberal, like Taibbi. Let us recall that while Taibbi can be at times a very fine jornalist, he is still politically far more a temperamental rebel, a bourgeois "enfant terrible" than a genuine left social analyst. In that sense he remains ensconced in the old journo illusion that more facts assure a better grasp of the subject, forgetting that this is also a sure formula to miss the forest for the trees, and that context, the historical, cultural and socioeconomic and political contexts of anything being reported is the guarantor of clarity and public mobilisation. Taibbi, after all, is still very much mainstream—employed by Rolling Stone, owned by near-billionaire Democrat suckup dilettante Jan Wenner. Taibbi recently contemplated (and to his credit promptly dropped) a gig with billionaire Pierre Omidyar —the same capricious funder of The Intercept—and his vision of journalism is still anchored in harvesting facts and aligning them on the table according to the ideals of "obectivity", which is fine as far as it goes, except that in an ocean of bourgeois values and runaway criminality this quickly becomes a self-imposed straight jacket.
Too bad. A media discussion can be a rich and engaging experience, a journey into the culture and the political economic system that produces it. Media discussions needn't be only about "journalism", or "the press." Indeed they can range far and wide, looking at the cinema, the arts as a whole, what the comedians are saying (and not saying) and so on. In sum, IMV the program only earns its keep when Jimmy Dore comes on board. His statements are fierce, clear and profound, always naturally aiming for the underlying structures —the roots—that have created and sustain this regime of criminal totalitarian mendacity, 24/7. His eloquent debunking of the journos pretensions to "professionalism" and "independence" is damn worth watching. Don't miss it.
—PG
