Journalism is Dead

At least, I think so. It has been replaced by propaganda. Not for the first time, mind you. Remember the Hearst Papers and the Spanish American War?

But once again American journalism has descended into propaganda.

Why do I say this? Well, there's the "military coup" in Honduras. Except there wasn't. It seems that the president of Honduras attempted to usurp constitutional powers not belonging to the the presidency. The Honduran equivalents of congress and the Supreme court told him no. He attempted to use force to do what he wanted. He was deposed by their government, and the military followed the orders of the civil powers to remove him from office. He was replaced by his constitutional successor. Not a military junta. But what we read in the papers made it seem like the military had taken over the reigns of power to for stall a "Chavez Friendly" government.

Ooops.

And then there is this: Madonnas next concert in Poland occurs on the Solemnity of the Assumption. Catholics are responding with a prayer vigil, as they value the Catholic underpinnings of their culture. The press is describing them as "Ultra Catholic". Ever notice how, when people of religious beliefs are outspoken in public, they are always described as "fundamentalists" "ultra Catholics" or some other epithet that makes them sound out to lunch?
(A far cry from when Churches were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement!) Of course, if someone with a religious credential speaks out in favor of a stand point that a journalist shares, then the epithets are switched for adjectives--like calling Pelosi a "devout Catholic".

But straight up factual reporting unflavored by bias? Not any more. NOt from the progressive press. Not from the conservative press. Not from anybody.