Not quite sure he realizes it, but it's still nice to watch Taibbi (whom I like)
being subtly schooled on "the media":
Taibbi: Despite episodes like that, we’ve had so many that were similar. Take the Iraq War: WMD you could have seen through, I thought, from the very beginning.
Chomsky: There are still people who believe there were WMDs.
Taibbi: And of course that story turned out very badly for the media. Do you think all that blatant deception resulted in a situation where people were willing to believe somebody like Trump –
Chomsky: Over the media?
Taibbi: Yes.
Chomsky: Well, I think it’s true. Although, honestly, I think one of the unfortunate effects of Manufacturing Consent is that a lot of people who’ve read it say, “Well, we can’t trust the media.” But that’s not exactly what it said. If you want to get information, sure, read the New York Times, but read it with your eyes open. With a critical mind. The Times is full of facts. You’re not going to find the information there on Facebook.
[...]
Taibbi: But that’s one of the developments, isn’t it? That the media increasingly are viewed as an institution, whereas previously this was not so much the case?
Chomsky: Oh, they are. Because Trump is very effective in terms of eliciting anti-institutional furor against the media, making media the enemy, which is a clever trick. He’s a good politician.
There is, actually, a not so very fine line between taking "the media" to account for errors, bearing in mind the First Draft of History is never error-free, and mindless, destructive media-bashing. Taibbi had reason to know that line,
but...
Nobody wants to hear this, but news that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is headed home without issuing new charges is a death-blow for the reputation of the American news media.
While the article is worth a read, this is not "read the New York Times, but read it with your eyes open. With a critical mind." This is blindly trashing "the media" (as if that weren't a bunch as diverse as one would imagine), amplifying Trump's mendacious "enemy of the people" propaganda.