Opinion: In today’s pages: Extra, extra, fake news replaces real news
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Columnist Jonah Goldberg asks if fake news is the new standard:
Or take Stephen Colbert, host of a fake cable news show, ‘The Colbert Report,’ itself a spinoff from the fake newscast ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.’ Colbert was recently a guest on ‘Meet the Press’ -- the Thunderdome of real news -- as he was trying to mount a bogus campaign for president (abandoned Monday). Colbert stayed in character. So did Tim Russert, grilling Colbert as if he were a real candidate, of sorts.... Indeed, while the network news broadcasts are sustained by the consumers of denture cream, adult diapers and pharmacological marital aides, it’s ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘The Colbert Report’ that have a grip on the hip, iPhone crowd. And plenty of those younger viewers seem to believe that they can deduce what’s going on in the real world from jokes on a fake newscast. It’s no longer funny because it’s true. It’s true because it’s funny.
Boston University’s Andrew J. Bacevich offers five steps to help the U.S. move on after the failed war on terror. Journalist Mona Eltahawy says Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf provides a striking example of why the West shouldn’t support dictators. The Brookings Institution’s Henry Aaron explains why health reform always fails.
The editorial board says it’s time to make room for more Angelenos, and says it’s time to stop bankrolling the Pakistani government. Finally, it says voters or supervisors should force Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona out of office if he won’t resign.