The changing political and media order?

Two piece this past weekend for those interested in the ways in which politics and journalism intersect in our 2.0 world.  Both have that "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" air about them.

First, from the New York Times magazine, a profile of the author of Politico's agenda-setting Playbook.  This early morning email tipsheet is what "some of America's most influential people will read before they say a word to their spouses." A compilation of news tips, annoucements and gossip that feeds the social-political whirl that is DC, a casual reader of Playbook can easily get confused about where friendship ends and business begins.

For those interested in a similar dynamic operationalized in an earlier time, I recommend Washington Post matriach Katharine Graham's excellent autobiography or the biography of James "Scotty" Reston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter whose intimacy with the power brokers of 1960s Washington led his critics to question whether he was in fact playing the impartial observer role we except of our journalists (or do we?).

And from across the pond, where they're in the midst of a fascinating election campaign, a piece from Doug Saunders on the power for the front page of the newspaper in Britian, a country where nearly 20 million souls still buy a daily paper from the myriad of choices available on the newsstand.  He argues that tabloids' attempts to capture "the fleeting eye" are not that different from the way the Internet works (or is it?).