What do you know about Davos?

Not much I suspect. Myself, I try to know as little about it as I can. ("Davos" refers to the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.)

At what is no doubt a great cost to his spirit, NRO's Jay Nordlinger has attended the last three said "Annual Meetings." He suffers so that we might have a peek inside.

Here is his latest dispatch from this year's Davos (he's there as I write, God help him), and he provides internal links to earlier reports. For some perspective, think of Davos as a celebration of European self-congratulation disturbed by thoughts of we unpleasant Americans and our evil leader George Bush. A sample of Norlinger's meditation:

Throughout Davos, by the way, the name "Fox News" is a bogey word, like "neocon." To say "Fox News" is to say "Satan" or something. Everyone understands (and agrees).

At another point, I observe a bigtime American reporter — another one — explaining to a foreign journalist — another one — that Fox News has the American public captive. Fox is not interested in news, only in propaganda (and war-mongering). In addition, the Bush administration doesn't want the facts — as revealed in Ron Suskind's New York Times Magazine article, published before the election. The administration is not "fact-" or "reality-based," you see.

The foreign journalist nods, understanding all.

I repeat what I said after my first visit to Davos, in 2003: To see the major journalists in action — from CNN, the BBC, etc. — is to know why the news turns out the way it does. What was that expression from 1980s Washington? "Personnel is policy"?