Every Journalist's Dream

One feature article by one man brought down the commander of a war.

Yeah, sure, one could argue that the tension between the administration and the general had been rising for quite some time and the article was merely the last straw. And certainly this type of conflicts between the civilian and the military leaders is nothing new. History has a predictable way of repeating itself. Of course, things are never as simple as throwing a switch. Nevertheless, by all appearances, that is roughly what happened:

One report by one reporter brought down the commander.

It is not just the derogatory comments the general and his staff made about their boss, exposed to undermine the authority of the civilian government over the military. Perhaps more damaging is the article's allegation that the military under the general's command was executing their own strategies in their own way without deference to the administration. Who was running the show here? It was insubordination de facto.

Regardless of how one feels about the war and its execution, Michael Hastings must be the envy of every reporter in the world at the moment. The sense of power must be immense. What a rush!

Still, it bothers me that The Rolling Stone has plastered his face all over its Web site. In the age of news anchors becoming television celebrities (coughAndersonCoopercough) and peeing all over their subjects and facts and events, print journalists want to see their faces in Technicolor too. Gone are the days in which journalists adhered to the code of never inserting themselves into the story.