How they do it

I blogged earlier today about how the press has let us down. I've found another article about how the Bush administration has engineered that betrayal. It's by Randolph T. Holhut and is entitled, "No functioning democracy with a malfunctioning press". This is a good companion article to the one I recommended earlier today so I really encourage you to check it out. Here's an excerpt:

President Bush has set a new standard for dealing with the press, or as he calls them, "the filter." He and his White House staff hold the press in utter contempt. As White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told The New Yorker last year: "They don't represent the public any more than other people do. In our democracy, the people who represent the public stood for election. I don't believe you have a check-and-balance function."

As a result, access to the Bush team is tightly controlled. If a reporter does get to talk with someone, they will likely hear the approved talking points of the day recited by rote. Every public event is completely scripted and held in front of hand-picked loyalists. Reporters that don't play along get frozen out.
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It's no secret that journalists get their careers and reputations damaged or destroyed if they report on information that conflicts with the conservative spin. The fear is pervasive and real at the highest levels of the corporate media food chain. The result is that most of what we see, hear and read reflects what the Bush administration wants us to see, hear and read. You can find dissenting viewpoints, but it takes more effort to find them than the average person is willing to spend.

What's the solution? Well, for now it's the internet. That is the equivalent today of "Radio Free Europe". Here's a website I just discovered today. It's the radio schedule for the BBC. What's great is that you can listen to the programs on your computer. I urge you to be pro-active and avail yourself of news sources other than the mainstream American press if you want to be truly informed.