Warren Hinckle and the Glory that was Ramparts

[Martin White]

But here is the question I was posing, perhaps a little too subtly:

Why would the online generation want to mimic the MSM?

...

Ramparts did not do that and they succeeded. That is why I tried to hold them up as model of what real journalism was and can be. I really don't understand it.

Here's a completely unjustified opinion. Today's culture is fame-driven, not ideology driven like it was in the 60s. The people writing online are hoping to get a "better" (read: richer, more famous) gig at CNBC or Fox or CNN or even the print media. In other words, the online journalism is just a means to an end rather than a heartfelt protest or an appeal to a fuller debate, like Ramparts. They are parroting the type of journalism that they see either because they know no better (as Jim said, lack of an alternative role model), or in fact they DO know better but know how to "play the game".

For the people writing for Ramparts, the object of the journalism was protest. For the people writing online in the way Jim describes, its about compiling a professional portfolio of fawning crap. The journalistic equivalent of celery - i.e. bland with no calorific content.

Look at someone like Geraldo Rivera. Did he switch out of actual physical fear, occupational pragmatism or some other reason? I highly doubt that it was simply a change of his opinion on the topic.