But the more important point is that the American people need to recognize that the major U.S. news media on foreign policy issues is deeply biased in line with what the U.S. foreign policy establishment wants. With Trump and Putin, the media gets a two-fer.
And, there is no conspiracy here. It's just that if a foreign-policy or national-security reporter wants to get access to U.S. government information, much of it classified, he or she must show a readiness to take the U.S. "side." If not, the next time there's a major event -- say, a U.S. military strike or the preparation of a government report on a foreign crisis -- your competition will get the inside-story "tick-tock" or the document "leak," not you.
Then, your editors will want to know how you got beat. They won't want to hear excuses about how you've given the U.S. government authorities a hard time on some serious investigative project. Your editors will just want to have what the competition has -- and if you can't get it, they will happily give your job to someone who will play ball with the powers-that-be.
As for American journalists, they should come clean about their obvious biases -- or they should commit themselves to an "oppositionist" position vis a vis all government officials, regardless of which government they represent and what the personal career consequences might be. One standard should fit all.
But that's just wishful thinking. The best career path for media "stars" is to be dishonest, to pretend that you're faithfully abiding by professional journalistic standards, except in some extreme cases like Trump's presidential candidacy or in writing about some foreign "villain." Then, you're just doing what's "good for the country."
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