While everyone is talking about “access journalism” this week it should be mentioned that this was how Vince McMahon was able to imply he won a ratings battle (that he started) he lost last Friday.

I’m not gonna mention his name because he’s a notorious name searcher but a few years ago there was this “entertainment critic/journalist” who cozied up to the people behind a (at the time) very popular network drama.

He got popular for famously flattering recaps & columns about the show, even late when the quality of the show had dropped off significantly. Wouldn’t know from his recaps though!

Suddenly he turned up as the screenwriter for a major studio film with an A-List lead & co-written & produced by…a writer from that once popular show. The film was a huge bomb largely because the story was terrible.

Normally this would be a very quick one & done screenwriting career, but amazingly he turned up again as a writer for an Emmy winning prestige series showrun & written by…well you can probably guess who.

In short, journalism is a field increasingly crowded by opportunists looking to use access & connections to get rich & famous and we need to hold them accountable for reasons other than perceived bias that opposes our bias.