The major media outlets in the United States are doing their journalistic duty.  With the entire political landscape changing, the economy in the deepest nose dive since Ronald Reagan and the quality of our life and liberty being degraded daily, what questions are being asked by the talking heads?  There are only two:

"Really?

"You don't say."

These hard hitting anchor people are right on top of things.  Brittany Spears latest navel piercing will get more airtime than going to war without a declaration from Congress.  A retiree protesting the war in Des Moines is a more heinous figure than John Poindexter.   While not nodding their heads in agreement with every pronouncement of the White House, they distract us with fluff.  

I read a book the other day, "Bias," by Bernard Goldberg.  He builds a strong case for liberal media bias. Although the copyright on the book is as recent as 2002, it is already dated.  If the liberal media is what I am seeing on television these days, I'll eat my liberal hat.  I think Bernie might have pissed off the media powers that be enough to get them to go 180 degrees on their bias compass to prove how unbiased they are.  Now instead of sucking up to the Eastern Liberals they are sucking up to the Redneck Right.

The pabulum being delivered to American households every night is not news.  It is entertainment. More importantly it is a line item on the mega-corporation's income projections.  The more entertaining the news, the more viewers/market share and profits.  So instead of insightful, hard hitting reporting the news media only cycles back to the viewers what they think we want to see.  If this theory is true than we appear to be some of the blood thirstiest, blind and ignorant viewers on the planet.  We believe what they tell us because it is our story.

Fortunately the major television networks are losing market share to other news sources.  If I want to find diverse opinions on either side of an issue, TV is the last place I look.  There is a great deal of news diversity on the Internet and I wish more people would use it.  The numbers are growing but not fast enough.  The powers that be are also battling this trend by dumbing down the populace to illiteracy so they can't or don't enjoy reading for news.  The output of your opinion is only as good as the input of your source.  The old computer adage; garbage in, garbage out.  Look at the network news today and tell me you don't smell stale garbage. 

It brings to mind an old Soviet era Russian joke, slightly modified and updated:

An American and an Iraqi have a foot race.
The Iraqi wins.
On U.S. television it is announced that the U.S. runner came in second and the Iraqi runner next to last.

Keep that in mind the next time a talking head gives that sincere look as he gazes at you through the lens,  telling you that, according to government sources, civil rights are not really rights but privileges that can be revoked at any time for any reason.

March 6, 2003
Slacker Manor