ASKING THE PRESS TO STAND UP TO ITS LOVER
The Mainstream Mouthpiece Media is dying because purveyors (readers and viewers) of its news products no longer trust the MMM to deliver news or to stand up for "the little guy".
But how can the MMM stand up for voters rendered voiceless in Washington's present atmosphere when it won't stand up for itself? Big Journalism continues in a dysfunctional relationship with its powerful lover: it trades self-respect for just a little bit of that powerful loving.
For the uninitiated, "loving" is spelled a-c-c-e-s-s.
From Time for sit-down protests by Hill reporters:
The most radical expansion of central government power in American history is happening right under these journalists' noses, and yet they raise not a peep of protest when the doors close, effectively barring them from doing their jobs at a critical juncture. Where are the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Radio and Television News Directors Association? These august organizations vigorously and rightfully protested former Vice President Richard Cheney's secret meetings with oil company executives in the early days of the Bush administration. They also wailed loud and long about the Bush administration's abuses, many real and some imagined, of the Freedom of Information Act.
Original post and updates at DBKP-- Washington Love Story: The Press and the Powerful
The remedy to all of this government-behind-closed-doors? The Examiner thinks it knows:
It's time for a sit-down protest by journalists whose first job is to uphold the public's right to know what its government is doing. Invite readers to come join them in demanding open meetings. The last thing Reid and Pelosi want is the spectacle of the Capitol Hill Police dragging protesting journalists away from the closed doors. It's time to show some cojones, people.
But will the progressive press show any "cojones"? It's doubtful.
Many of the MMM have not only climbed into bed with the Congressmen and Senators they are supposed to be watching, they sit up anxiously waiting for their sweetie to show up and give them some of that lovin'.
"Access" carries more weigh than "the people's right to know".
The Examiner has it right: journalists and reporters could do more than sit down and shut up after they're lied to.
But that might be wishing for a modern miracle: asking the spineless to get out of bed and stand up to the power grab that's being perpetrated by their lovers.
by Mondo Frazier
images: desktopnexus