The threat of journalistic impotence

Last week I gave an example of the unevenness of coverage in the press towards Sarah Palin. I used this example simply to raise awareness of the role of the Free Press in our nation and the perils that would accompany a decline in this journalistic freedom.

I'll say it again, though, the Free Press is one of the many checks on the power of government. Without the Free Press, government can run rampant while the people sit idly by, unknowing. And, when government thrives, individual freedom cannot survive.

I happened to pick that example of Sarah Palin because it was so egregious. The interviewer flat out lied and purposefully misquoted another source in order to put her on the spot and make her look like an idiot. Now, whether or not she is an idiot is irrelevant. (But, for the record, you don't get to be the governor without some level of smarts; calling her an idiot is just useless hyperbole.)

If Obama or Biden or some other Democrat had been treated the same way, I could have used that as an example as well. (It is tougher to find such examples, though, so I took what I could get.)

The point is, our freedoms are being threatened, presently. And that threat is coming from a press that is giving up their freedom to put themselves in the tank for either Obama (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC) or for McCain (Fox). There are still objective journalists out there, but they are few and far between. Gone is the day, it seems, when you could open up your paper and find an in-depth, exhaustively researched piece on every element of a controversy involving any of the candidates, with that same level of scrutiny applied equally to all candidates.

This is the time to get very worried. When your Free Press starts letting you down, there is almost nothing left to stand between you and a government who would just love to feed you the information they want you to hear.

I highly recommend the following two commentaries. Both reinforce what I'm talking about here and speak of the dangers an impotent press poses to our freedoms and our Republic.

"Why the Press is in the Tank for Obama" by Don Surber of the Charleston Daily Mail

"Media's Presidential Bias and Decline" by Michael Malone of ABC News