OK, even though I just said I'd avoid getting into this, I think the Vietnam War really created a sort of golden age where reporters were more willing to challenge the narrative and institutional power than any time before or since. Vietnam (and to a lesser extent Korea) really disillusioned a lot of young journalists who did amazing work -- the Neil Sheehans and Seymour Hershes of the world, basically. It's telling how many scoops still come from reporters who cut their teeth in those years like, say, Hersh, or Bob Woodward.

I think before Vietnam journalists largely imagined themselves on the same side. I think after Vietnam, government propaganda got a lot more sophisticated. Besides that, the business model collapsed, making newspapers into supplicants and leading to cutback in resources devoted to investigative journalism. The latest trend of advertorial has newsrooms basically renting themselves out to businesses to write ad copy; how can you really cast yourself as an objective investigator after doing that?

Of course, journalists who imagine themselves as part of the circle of power are a problem but were around in the past too.