From WNYKRZK in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. This week, the president signed the long-awaited and much-debated campaign finance reform bill.

But immediately after its passage, the media let fly a barrage of critical coverage, as political columnists and pundits searched for loopholes and weak points in the legislation.

In a recent article for slate.com, USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro wrote that,

not since Elvis Presley went to the White House to enlist in Richard Nixon's War on Drugs,

has a Washington event inspired so much cynicism as the

passage of campaign finance reform. He says this resounding Bronx cheer can be traced to a single

source. I hate to be one of these people who has one size, fits all explanations, but I think a good

chunk of it is that campaign consultants are the best

sources of every political reporter. When you are looking to figure out what something that

touches on politics means, you call your friends the consultants.

And on background, off the record, 80% of the consultants are devastatingly against campaign

reform.

And they will explain to you either how it will drive money from the pristine nature of the current system underground,

how it will set off an avalanche of unintended consequences. But what nobody seems to pick up on

is that campaign consultants, particularly media consultants,

are not exactly disinterested observers of the passing scene.

They are people who can lose money directly from the passage

and the signing into law of McCain-Feingold.

Well, I'd like to explore the two points you raise.

The first one being, from the journalist's perspective,

do you really think it's a question of keeping their sources in their pockets

...