What media?

What media, indeed! The news media has been reduced to a toothless, brainless mouthpiece for the government. And how did this reduction of the covenant between the people and its media occur? It's not a simple question, but the answer lies in the erosion of passion, courage and anger among its practitioners. In other words, the media is peopled by a bunch of social-climbers and wimps who don't care to explore the abuse of power, wrong-doing by CEOs, high government officials or anyone who pays big dollars for advertising. Newspapers, radio, television, even the Webzines are sellouts to the official line du jour. Just look at the press conferences with the president and you'll notice that nothing gets questioned unless its scripted, and if a reporter does go outside the script he/she is mashed down like a bug by his/her publisher who, more often than not, attends the same church, the same country club outings, the same social get-togethers as the power brokers that reporters are - or should be - assigned to cover.

These are the people who run the country and the media is looking the other way. It's a reflection of what's happening to this nation. Capitalism rules and anyone who gets in the way of money-making is crushed or bought. There are no other options, especially since the American public has given up on believing in its government or its institutions of information or learning.

We've become a nation of apathetic, greedy, short-sighted people who're willing to follow any religious con artist who's got the right script - the right script being the one that feeds us what we want to hear.

Sad, but true.