Help me with my LTTE Re: Media and the war

[tk2kewl]

James Pinkerton must be living in an alternate universe from mine <"Big media's high-water mark", Opinion, June 2>. While I'll agree that Watergate was not worse than the Civil War, I can think of few things worse than a president who deliberately and criminally interferes with the democratic process of elections in this country.

I can also agree that the news media were probably more liberal in the '70s, but Pinkerton's assertion that the news media is now more "diverse" is patently absurd. Today the news media has been consolidated by corporate interests and we are bombarded with info-tainment rather than hard news. In the midst of a war that has lasted longer than our involvement in WWII, in the face of nearly 1700 American casualties and tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, and with evidence piling ever higher that the Bush administration fixed intelligence around its predetermined war policy <"Memo: Bush manipulated Iraq intel," News, May 9>, the news media feeds us around-the-clock coverage of the Michael Jackson trial, runaway-bride, and fingers in chili.

Truth is crucial to a healthy democracy, and the news media has an obligation to report the truth on issues critical to our future. However, todays news media is content to let talking heads from both sides spin the latest stories, while doing virtually no fact checking or investigation of their own, leaving the public with diametrically opposed "opinions" having little or no factual basis. Unfortunately, Watergate may have indeed been "big media's high-water mark", as the quality and value of reporting today pales in comparison.

On edit: incorporated AllegroRondo's suggestion

[AllegroRondo]

1. The media doesnt ivestigate any more

they think they are doing their job by letting talking heads from both sides spin the latest stories. When did they stop checking their facts and getting to the real story?

[tk2kewl]

2. good point. I will try to incorporate that