The definition of a reporter has changed. For decades, the White House briefing room was filled with people who met the common understanding of what a reporter was—an independent, objective, just-the-facts type who worked for putatively nonideological entities designed to cover the news for a city, a town, a state, and in some cases, the nation. Each of these entities was a business, but making money was a secondary concern to the ideal of journalism. They didn’t have to worry about the business because journalism was a good business. That’s still true, but just much less so. By the time I
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