The Influence of Fools: Why Liberals Are Mad at the MSM

Liberals are angry with the mainstream media, argues John Atcheson, because for the last four years they have utterly failed to hold our leaders accountable to the truth. If the press doesn't challenge those in power, and don’t dig for more information, then politicians, being politicians, will tell ever bigger lies.

By John Atcheson
CommonDreams.org

May 10, 2005 — Long accustomed to the wrath from the right, the news media is now facing white hot anger from the left. For the most part, the press seems genuinely perplexed by this turn of events. <...>

Until recently, journalists were as interested in what people did as in what they said; they cared as much about how things actually were, as they did about how they were presented. And so they dug into stories, they searched for facts not just quotes, and truth and accuracy were deemed as important as balance and impartiality. They knew, in short, that when the emperor is indeed naked, it is neither biased nor partisan to say so. And it worked to keep leaders from both parties from straying too far from the truth.

But today’s reporters act more like a 5th grade ADD sufferer deprived of Ritalin. What? Orange alert? Drop the Richard Clarke interview and pick up the duct tape. Swift Boat pseudo news that had been debunked 20 years ago? Skip that Duefler Report. Let the Silbermann-Robb report blame the CIA for Bush’s mendacity? OK. We’ll forget those pesky generals, DOE weapons experts, Air Force experts, current and former CIA agents, and State Department Intelligence analysts talking about lies, distortions, deceptions and political pressure on the part of the administration. Anything new on Terri? <...>

http://www.mediachannel.org/reform/indy115.php

Have to hold their feet to the fire. They humble themselves at the feet of the administration. Its sickning.

...to the public instead of commercial interests?

Bush and his gang are corporate errand boys. News personalities prosper when they realize they have no business getting in the way of that relationship... and when everything they say reinforces it.

As the bumpersticker says: "The media is only as liberal as their conservative corporate overlords." Or something to that extent.