Gannonization of the News

Recently, it has come to light that Jeff Gannon (a pseudonym), a former (as of today) reporter for a GOP organization (a quasi-news group called Talon News) has been invited into White House press conferences despite the lack of legitimacy as a press organization. Gannon was allowed to question the President directly with softball and misleading questions that are an insult to the idea of an inquisitive press that is necessary for democracy. This is another example of the tragic media accident the Bush Administration is becoming with the recent disclosures of their experiments in propoganda (e.g., Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, Michael McManus, and their fake news casts). The freedom and impartiality of the news media is becoming more and more of a problem. Using the idea of “liberal bias” in news, the Right, led by Fox “News” has created a culture of ignorance where Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity can pass for news, while Paul Krugman is derided as a “left-winger”. It is unconscionable that so much of this country can have Fox “News” as their source of information about world events and American politics. Clearly they exhibit a right-wing bias serve as the propoganda arm (apart from the corrupt journalists and Gannon) for the Bush Adminstration. It is a shameful development and one that indicates the need for greater regulation of media outlets in terms of what is news and what is opinion.