Confessions of a dangerously narrow mind: Sean Penn’s view of journalism is in direct conflict with his view of himself

The actor’s view of what journalists do is as fraught with potential disaster as the actual situations he puts himself in.

By Andrew J. Pridgen

It is easy to dismiss Sean Penn as an egomaniac, a cagey self-promoter, a Luddite, a little bit delusional, a perverter of the truth and a naive mouthpiece for himself.

He’s also still got a great head of hair.

But the question is whether we should take him and his actions as a journalist seriously. The answer lies somewhere in how seriously he takes his sudden self-anointed entry into the Fourth Estate.

60 Minutes, CBS’s long-running/long-form news magazine show, has slunk from its Peabody award-winning heyday of exposing friendly fire incidents in the Gulf and revealing CIA involvement in running drugs…not to mention this Eminem interview—to becoming the marketing arm for that toothy guy who got a loan from his investment bank-running…