Internet killed the media star...

When they're not busy deifying selected mortals with the "correct" viewpoints, traditional media moguls are often found lamenting the rise of internet-based content, particularly bloggers, who've taken a 'rather' savage toll on the credibility of many once respected outlets. Rather than addressing internally the criticism and accusations of sloppiness and/or bias, these "mainstream media" partisans would rather vilify the watchdogs. In other words, it's fine for them to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," but when someone arises to watch the Watchers, they don't like it one little bit.

But for all their protestations that bloggers lack credibility or "professional" standards and training, what these giants of the corporate press really hate is they've lost their role as gatekeepers of information. Regardless of their hollow claims of objectivity, one need only look at the famous slogan of the New York Times: "All the News that's fit to print" to realize there is always going to be subjectivity, if not outright deliberate bias in the selection and presentation of information. For some, it's conscious, for others it's a result of groupthink, but there's little question American mass media shares a lockstep-consistent take on the major issues of the day. Even an alleged 'maverick' like Fox News favors interventionist government--it's only an outlier in terms of the use to which it would employ that intervention. (Hmm... "Fox" and "outlier" in the same sentence... may have to do that more often, since it's appropriate on two levels.)

So as newspapers become the latest self-destructive industry to go begging for Uncle Sam to save them from oblivion, the American people need to put their foot down on the issue of separation of media and state. Otherwise, we'll continue to be ill-served by these self-appointed guardians of Newspeak, with the power to declare which thoughts are "double plus ungood."