Journalists outshout their hosts to score the show's last bon mot.
Because some print reporters on major dailies and news weeklies, primarily those based in Washington, no longer seem to be writing for the reader first. The incentives have changed. If they can make their copy sparkle enough, even if it's thin gruel, they will catch the eye of the TV bookers, who will put them on cable shows. That in turn may lead to lucrative consulting contracts, books and even juicier lecture fees, all contingent on how glib and clever they can be. As their incomes soar, the commentators become even more removed from the readers and viewers for whom they are ostensibly reporting, and more entrenched in a closed circle of political and media elite who talk only to each other.