5 ways the elite media showed its colors this week

The excerpt from the former Defense secretary’s memoir in the Wall Street Journal is worth reading in its own right, but it is downright extraordinary when compared with the coverage that it has received inside the Washington bubble. Unless the tone of the full text is radically different from the tone of the excerpt, Gates’ book appears to be a withering but nuanced critique of how our country’s institutions are being hollowed out by power and politics, with culprits in Congress, the media and two White Houses. That nuanced style has been a hallmark of Gates’ career, and when Gates explains how these myriad failures of leadership are making it too easy to end up in unnecessary wars, it almost sounds like Eisenhower. Or, as Politico would put it, “Gates memoir slams Obama White House and Congress.”

Above: “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Jan. 10, 2014 7:12 PM PT

Every once in a while, the D.C. to New York elite media bubble ventures into unintentional self-parody. Last week was one of those times. Here are five ways the media’s citizens of “This Town” showed their VSP stripes. --Joel Silberman, guest blogger

Joel Silberman is a Los Angeles-based writer and the producer of such viral Web videos as “Legitimate Rape” Pharmaceutical Ad (TW) and Kids Do The News. Follow him on Twitter @Wordpeggio.

Weather is always the most clickable story

OK, we get it, it’s cold. I’ve been on the East Coast this week, and I’ve never missed L.A. more than I do right now. But the obsessive coverage of the “polar vortex” is a good reminder that often the most popular news can usually be summarized as “here’s what you’d be experiencing if you stuck your head outside your window.” (Also, is it me or does polar vortex sound like something from a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Christmas special? Can somebody at Paramount please get on that?)

Above: Morning commuters bundle up against the cold in New York. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

Narratives don't change during elections, but they can in January

Chris Christie’s narrative last fall was all about his inevitable reelection as a prelude for 2016. Sure, there were potential scandals floating around, but they weren’t part of the narrative. Some observers rightly anticipated that a full-on backlash against Christie was due, but the bridge-related emails put enough meat on that backlash to turn it into a real, lasting counter-narrative. The true damage to Christie from this bridge business, then, is that it opens the door to less hagiographic portrayals in the media moving forward.

Above: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is currently caught in a political scandal, in which one of his aides apparently ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to purposely cause traffic jams at the on-ramps to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., because of a political disagreement between Christie and the mayor of Fort Lee. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

For elite media, Chris Christie is always big news

OK, we get it. There was blocking off a bridge and a big traffic jam. It was a jerky move. Enough with the 24/7 coverage already. Is nothing else happening in America? Isn’t it still cold?

Above: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie leaves City Hall in Fort Lee, N.J., after apologizing to Mayor Mark Sokolich. (Louis Lanzano / Associated Press )

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5 ways the elite media showed its colors this week

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