Why People Don't Trust the MSM

I couldn't help but think "this is why people don't trust the MSM" over and over again as I read this letter from Karl Rove. I also couldn't help but think of the criticism aimed at bloggers that they have no editorial layers to keep them from just publishing whatever they want to portray as truth:

It boils down to this: as a journalist, do you feel you have a responsibility to dig into the claims made by your guests, seek out evidence and come to a professional judgment as to the real facts? Or do you feel if a charge is breathtaking enough, thoroughly checking it out isn’t a necessity?

I know you might be concerned that asking these questions could restrict your ability to make sensational charges on the air, but don’t you think you have a responsibility to provide even a shred of supporting evidence before sullying the journalistic reputations of MSNBC and NBC?

This was the real dig that rings the truest:

The difficulty with your approach is you reduced yourself to the guy in the bar who repeats what the fellow next to him says – “The glove fits! The glove fits!” - only louder, because it suits your pre-selected story line ("Bush Justice") and you don’t want the facts to get in the way of a good fable.

HT Instapundit