Expert (n.) who knows a country best may be barred from the press precisely by unwanted conclusions and unusual qualifications.
The Expert (n.) is, by Kissinger's candid definition, someone skilled at elaborating the consensus of the constituency that has a stake in it.
Expert (n.) is not there, as the reporter is, to describe what he sees, but to build the ideological cover and put nagging doubts to rest; one sees slums, the other prosperity.
Expert (n.) is, in Kissinger's sense, the intellectual who articulates the consensus of the powerful.
An Expert (n.) can be co-opted to order: put him on retainer, fund his research, house him in a think tank, and the supply of authority tilts the way power wants.
An Expert (n.) answers to those with a stake in commonly held opinions: elaborating their consensus at a high level is what made him an expert in the first place.
Expert (n.) owes his dominance less to what he knows than to the power of his sponsors and how congenial his views are to those who own the press.