Oliver's Army

In a very brief amount of time, public opinion of the General Stanley McChrystal mess took a strange turn. First, as you would expect, people argued the pros and cons of whether President Obama should fire him as a measure to prove civilian control over the military. Only a few days later, the question was no longer to what effect this kind of division in the ranks would harm America's longest war, but rather, how did Rolling Stone pull this off?

In that meta way that journalism all too often operates, there have been numerous stories on how freelance journalist Michael Hastings secured such impressive access. Hastings himself has also stood front and center to answer these questions in interviews, which is admirable.

One such explanation comes from Matt Taibbi in a very good Washington Post piece. He says that Rolling Stone, to which he writes for in the vein of Hunter Thompson, gives him free reign to write as he sees fit.

"They give you an enormous amount of space to address any topic I want, and there's no editorial interference in terms of political viewpoint, and I can use any language I want," he said.

That quote has stuck with me for the past couple days. If Rolling Stone can publish two stunning pieces of journalism in short time (its recent piece on BP and the Minerals Management Service seems forgotten now, which is a shame), does that mean this philosophy of embracing biases is good for journalism? That boastfully writing with opinion and exaggerated personality is at least a successful route?

Rolling Stone thrived in the 1960s and early '70s doing just that with new journalism. It may have been more revolutionary then without the numerous opinions you find on cable news and the internet, but those narrative might be what people want.

Still, it wouldn't kill Rolling Stone to rate an album something other than three-and-a-half stars (five for reissues, of course).

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WaPo's profile of Rolling Stone's push for more serious topics.

That story you likely read.

But you may not have read this