"Journalism seems to have recovered its reason for being," was how Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz began an article celebrating the "activist stance" of emotional reporters covering Katrina's devastation. Kurtz must have been especially pleased with the "reporting" of his other employer, CNN. Gone was any pretense of objectivity. CNN's reporters competed with one another to be the Most Outraged Journalist of the Week.

 Anchorwoman Kyra Phillips repeatedly demanded an admission of federal dereliction of duty, while Anderson Cooper castigated Sen. Mary Landrieu for not appearing as angry as he was. And journalism's "reason for being" was clearly to hold George W. Bush personally responsible for everything from the obvious responsibilities of state and local officials to global warming and gasoline prices.

 An exceptionally evenhanded Newsweek article about the hurricane and its aftermath addressed what many in the media have so delicately avoided about New Orleans: "It has long been known better for corruption than efficiency." We saw the media corrupted when the levees broke and unleashed the inner Frank Rich or Maureen Dowd of all those reporters.