Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good

The cynic tends to hold that the political system is corrupt; its players are Machiavellian partisans uninterested in the public good, its process driven by a concern with winning, not governing. Because we cannot know what motivates an individual and because any action can be recast to serve some selfish end, the cynic's position is ultimately not contestable. If an inherent conflict exists between the self-interest of a political leader and the public good, then press reports of self-interested political action are not cynical but realistic.