Activist watchdogs

Journalists have long held themselves to be the "fourth estate," the unofficial branch of government that helps keep the other parts honest by shining the light of day on the business of running the nation. Like the rest of government, they are jealous of their territory, as their denunciation of bloggers can attest. Bloggers, they sniff, are not real journalists. Why, journalists have formal training, and standards, and most of all...they're objective. Kind of like Fox News' lullaby mantra: "We report, you decide." The big players want you to believe they're Sgt. Joe Friday: "just the facts, ma'am."

...and then someone like the editor of the influential Editor and Publisher magazine blows the pose by admitting the press can have an agenda just as focused as any blogger:

Newspapers may be in the role of bullpen stopper right now, with the current Iran "semi-crisis." In baseball lingo, they should try to "put out the fire" there, after losing one for the home team in Iraq three years ago...
To those who would say that this inflates the power or even role of the press in America today, I would reply: You don't expect the Democrats to keep us out of war, do you? ...
Thankfully, there are signs that the press may be ready to douse a few flames. Recent media accounts have often cast a skeptical eye on the trumped-up Iran threat, and reporters are already asking probing questions at White House briefings -- before the war this time, not months after an attack.

Funny, I don't recall having the opportunity to vote on this guy being able to decide foreign policy. And the words "trumped-up" sure sound unbiased, don't they? Read the full piece for yourself. And remember it the next time the pious 'professionals' decry your audacity for getting news from ANYWHERE other than THE mainstream media. Can't these guys just tell us what's going on in the world and let us figure out how to respond on our own?