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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Whose News

After the behavior of our news media this past week, I'm reminded of what G.K. Chesterton said about modern journalism:

The point about the Press is that it is not what it is called. It is not the "popular Press." It is not the public Press. It is not an organ of public opinion. It is a conspiracy of a very few millionaires, all sufficiently similar in type to agree on the limits of what this great nation (to which we belong) may know about itself and its friends and enemies. The ring is not quite complete; there are old-fashioned and honest papers: but it is sufficiently near to completion to produce on the ordinary purchaser of news the practical effects of a corner and a monopoly. He receives all of his political information and all his political marching orders from what is by this time a sort of half-conscious secret society, with very few members, but a great deal of money.¹

Of course, he was speaking about early 20th century Great Britain, but times don't seem to have changed much. The US news media fell all over itself in reporting on John Edwards' extramarital affair, his lying, and possible paternity issues. But they couldn't muster any ink to report on the Friday, July 25, House Judiciary Committee hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power.

At least Democracy Now! reported: "The House Judiciary Committee held historic hearings on Friday about whether the White House overstepped its constitutional authority during the presidency of George W. Bush and whether or not such abuses would justify his impeachment." The videos are available here. This was the first time a Bush impeachment was discussed (in a six-hour hearing) before a Congressional committee, so you would think that this is something important enough to report on.

At least the new book by Ron Suskind, The Way of the World, has received a modicum of news coverage, along with further corroborating evidence of Cheney-Bush crimes.

1. From "The Tyranny of Bad Journalism" in Utopia of Userers and other Essays (1917).

posted by Merle Harton Jr. | 11:25 PM |

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