Libertines strike again!  This time it is a national libertine columnist who weeps that America no longer seems to want a free press.  Here is a quote from the column printed in the Peoria Journal Star on 10/14/05 page A4, “Yet, in the U.S. a confluence of forces is acting to undermine the legitimacy of a press that questions those in power.  On the right, radio and TV talk shows promote the notion that the media should be openly partisan.  On the left, critics accuse the ‘mainstream press’ of being a lapdog for the administration.  (Right???—my addition)  The very idea of an independent press is widely debunked.


Meantime the blogosphere—which leans on links to articles in the major papers—promotes opinion as fact.”  (My addition—and so does the media; they always have and always will.)


I’ve got bad news for her.  The media has never been independent.  The media has never been unbiased.  The media has never been the heralds of truth.  The media is just like any other human institution.  It does some good, it does some bad, it provides some benefits, it causes some problems.  That has been true throughout U.S. history.  The media has not been in the past and never will be the savior of American democracy.


Just from recent history, we know that the media lies, that it slants stories, that it makes up stories, and that it is not and should not be above the law.  Conservatives have been complaining at least since the Presidency of John Kennedy that a majority of reporters were and are liberals who slant the news to their point of view.  Yet, she claims that it is conservatives who want the media to be partisan.  Guess what?  It already is and there is absolutely nothing new about that.  The media has been partisan from the beginning of our nation.  The media is partisan today.  The media will be partisan in the future.  It is a myth that people can put aside their view points and just report the facts, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts.  It hasn’t happened in the past, it does not happen today, and it won’t happen in the future.


I believe what she is really complaining about is the loss of power and influence that the “mainstream  media” has experienced over the past few years.  It has lost power and influence in part because the public is becoming more aware of the lies, slanted news stories, and made up stories.  The public has become aware that the media seems to believe that the employees of the media are above the law.  And most importantly, the “mainstream media” is losing some of its monopolistic power to control the news and what information the public receives.


Why are they losing this monopolistic control?  In a large part because of greater competition.  Competition from the very areas that she uses as examples to support her erroneous argument.  CNN has been challenged by Fox News and from what I’ve read CNN has been losing the competition.  Radio and TV talk shows are no longer dominated by the “mainstream media.”  The blogosphere can almost instantaneously challenge the lies, slanted news, and made up stories put forth by the “mainstream media.”  Competition; isn’t it grand!  We need more of it; not less.