Don't these tsk-tsking media elite columns pretty much write themselves at this point? (No wonder they're so popular!) Proving it's never to late to say exactly what everyone else has already said, Meacham does just that. And yes, it reads like a parody, and yes Meacham never even hints that Fox News ought to change its behavior or be held responsible for the wildly irresponsible programming it sponsors.

For elites like Meacham, this “debate” is all about the White House.

Laugh along as you read Meacham's description of Fox News:

Still, to many liberals, Murdoch and Ailes are the scary Wild Things of the last decade or so in American politics, the men on whom many of the evils of the world can be blamed. For these progressive true believers, the White House's recent attack on the channel as a partisan machine is a welcome signal of a feisty, fighting Obama administration.

That's it for the whole column. Can Meacham play any more dumb about the “talented and influential” Roger Ailes? I suspect not. Does Fox news constantly air falsehoods under the guise of journalism? Did it recently lead a homophobic smear campaigns against administration official? Does it traffic in violent, insurgency rhetoric. Does it act as a propaganda arm of the RNC?

Newsweek readers have no idea because Meacham doesn't devote one sentence to actually describing that Fox News' programming looks like. (Does the Newsweek editor actually watch Fox News? I suspect not.) Meacham couldn't care less about the White House allegation that Fox News isn't legitimate and Meacham never gives it a second thought. The column, like every other MSM column on this topic, isn't about Fox News. It's never about Fox News or its constant crimes against journalism.

Instead, it's about the White House. And tactics. And politics. And process. (Meacham claims to know the real motive for the White House's attacks on Fox News.)

The Nation's Eric Alterman got it dead right last week when he wrote:

It's a sad symbol of the state of contemporary American journalism that the White House communications office is doing more to maintain the honor of the profession than are many journalists.

The White House is trying to spark a debate about journalism in this country; it's trying to shine a light on the Fox News. But status qua-loving media elites like Meacham don't want anything to do with that debate.