Journalism Is Dead

You might think I’m talking about the fact that most of the country’s major newspapers are either bankrupt or heading there fast. You might think I’m talking about the fact that a growing number of people admit to getting most of their news from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and yes those are both Comedy Central productions. (I’ll even admit to watching Colbert on a regular basis. Let’s face it. There are few things quite as good as his “Better Know a District” segments. That is, of course, unless he’s interviewing someone from the Brady Campaign.)

No. I’m not talking about outdated business models for news networks or our increasing propensity to want some satire with our news. I am talking about the elimination of the free press entirely. According to ABC News, the Obama White House has decided to create their own news division and report on themselves while not allowing “outside” news agencies to do so. (I especially like the little White House News logo.) The first such incident revolves around a relatively trivial matter of a college basketball team visiting the White House. So you might say, “who cares?” But seriously, the entire point of  “freedom of the press” clause of the first amendment of the Constitution is to provide the citizens with a supposedly unbiased (insert CNBC and or Chris Matthews and or Keith Olbermann joke here) source of information about our government and elected officials. In short, it is a stop guard designed to attempt to keep them honest. The moment we allow our government to “report” on itself and shut out our press, regardless of how biased we believe that press to be, journalism is truly dead and our freedom won’t be far behind.