Many of my previous posts have, I admit, reflected a certain contempt for our news media, much of which I consider to be on the whole thoroughly compromised, unable or unwilling to perform the role for which it is so desperately needed.
However, there have been some heroes in this age of darkness, even in the news media -- some even in the White House press corps. Lord knows they have a hard slog. You couldn't pay me enough to listen, week after week, to the fables spun by Bush White House press spokesmen. I just think, my God, it must be depressing being subjected to Ari's or Scotty's or now Tony's ever more fantastically Orwellian flights of fancy, week after week after week. It must be soul crushing sometimes.
But it is in Iraq that examples of incomprehensible heroism among the newsmedia arise. Yes, these people must be possessed of an extraordinary ambition, but in many cases an ambition born of an earnestness about the elemental ingredient for an operational democracy: an informed electorate.
There are those who feel otherwise, of course. Such people seem to believe it is in the public's interest not to know, that truth is less important than maintaining order in the ranks, that patriotism trumps all other considerations, even if our leadership leads us all over a cliff. The lengths to which these people are willing to go to denigrate, demonize and disparage those who would seek to enlighten we, the people, have proven quite telling.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment