Democrats Attack Unpleasant News Stories About the Administration: Goodbye Free Press

Fox news has been questioning why other networks don't run some of the same stories they run. In general, they are questioning the motives of the stations and the networks as well as print media. So democrat mouthpieces have decided to attack Fox's inquiry with a full court press (No pun intended.) based on the following assumption: The stories Fox chooses to follow and air, many of which are highly critical of the administration, are unworthy as news. In other words, the essence of the stories is so feeble that the other stations don't follow them because there is really no news. I have seen the usual suspects on many stations issuing the same line. I find this absolutely crazy. Then I remember, the best defense is a good offense.

This reminds me of the old TV show and eventual movies called "Police Squad." In many of the episodes, there would be something really interesting happening such as a fireworks company exploding and standing in front of a small crowd was a policeman with a megaphone exhorting everyone to leave because there was nothing to see.

H. L. Mencken used to work for the Baltimore Sun. He was famous for quotes about the media and the job of the journalist along with being a die hard anti-semite. If he were alive and working today, he would have similar status as Mel Gibson. But his anti-semitism has nothing to do with his powers of observation. He was quoted as saying that the job of the media was to: "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Now, running news stories that embarrass the administration is what the press should be doing. A free press was guaranteed in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. The founders thought it was one of the most important freedoms. If we have a substantial part of the press acting as a PR arm of the administration, how can we discern whether any news story they offer is not based in bias?

I may or may not like Fox News. But I am far more comfortable with a critical story about any administration than one that ends up being nothing more than cheerleading. An interesting note: When Reagan and Bush were in the WH, the same press and the same channels ran piece after piece critical of those administrations.

Ah, ah, aaaah, Good bye freedom of the press. (Sung to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.)

FB