The NYT takes a very friendly look at John Rich, half of knuckle-headed country duo Big & Rich, and his oh-so-topical new song, “Shuttin’ Detroit Down.”

It is Hitsville’s contention that one of the goals of popism is to present news about artists in as PR-friendly a fashion as possible, and that this practice has seeped deep into the psyche of many writers, offering examples big and small.

Note this sentence:

[”Shuttin’ Detroit Down”] reflects not only Mr. Rich’s songwriting gifts — he collaborated on the verses with the longtime country singer John Anderson — but also his acumen in gauging and channeling the mood of the country….

Now, this is on the minor side, but it’s telling.

The problem? An uncomfortable truth: “Mr. Rich” didn’t write the song by hmself. This conflicts with the clean PR purposes of the profile.

The solution?

Toss a bit of gossamer in readers’ eyes about “Mr. Rich’s songwriting gifts” …

…and then slip in, backhandedly, the off-message irritant.

“Longtime country singer John Anderson” disappears from the story, not to be heard from until he earns his fluffy profile, when his contributions to the song will be played up.

The writer, Jon Caramanica, in a long story never bothers to ask Rich any disturbing questions about the conflicts between his right-wing ideology and the song’s message.

Like, how the Republican party he campaigned for got us into the mess, or any fault the workers (via some of their crazy union practices) might have had in the predicament the auto industry is in, or even just what his perscription is for  Detroit: Should it just continue on, business as usual, except with—heavens!—government handouts?

And neither Caramanica nor Rich seem to be aware that “Okie from Muskogee,”to which they compare Rich’s song endlessly, was a satire. (The fact that even Merle Haggard seems to have forgotten that is beside the point.)