As you can tell from the title of this post, I am not a happy man. I've spent this last 6 years defending American journalism, heralding it's importance and contrasting it to the communist and authoritarian systems of journalism seen in countries like Russia and Iran. American journalists are free to challenge authority and are one of our most important checks on reckless government. However, the events of the last two weeks has called into question my defense of the American media and caused me to re-evaluate many long held beliefs.

Before I begin, please note that I see examples of fair and professional journalism everyday in both print and broadcast sources. Good reporters are everywhere. However, the actions of "journalists" such as Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly overshadow the good reporting that is conducted by many journalists across the nation.

In short, we are now in an era of infotainment. Media outlets pick and choose "news" that will push higher and higher ratings. It's no longer a matter of what the public needs to know...it's what can we do as journalists to make the public watch our program? Instead of working on more in depth news gathering, let's design pretty graphics and re-tell the story of a poor child being killed by an evil mother. Millions of people are marginalized each day here in the U.S. and abroad but instead of discussing matters of intense global importance, we will focus on one shocking and heartbreaking story in an effort to captivate a nation of consumers.

Before we go any further, I want everyone to stand up a wave a fond farewell to the days when media treated political candidates in a way that was truly fair and balanced. Long gone are the days when we could trust the media to report on political candidates in a non-opinionated way. Now, we sit back and allow journalists to take comments completely out of context in order to create a false impression in the minds of the public. One shining example surfaced earlier this week. "Operation Lipstick" as I will call it is just another attempt by the media to make a controversy out of something that is a non-issue. Anyone who has listened to the comments made by Barack Obama can understand that he wasn't directing any negative comments toward Palin. Before I left for work the other morning, I tuned to Fox News to catch up on the morning news. Then I got angry because the headline involves Barack and whether or not his "lipstick" comment was appropriate. I change the channel to CNN, then Headline News, then MSNBC. Guess what? All these networks are covering the EXACT SAME FREAKING STORY at the SAME TIME!

I'm Sorry! This is not "news" and it has no place in a cable or network news program.

Let's also not forget how ABC News treated Palin. During her much anticipated interview which was broadcast on ABC this week, our ABC journalists edited out several parts of a Palin quote, making it appear that she was viewing Iraq as some sort of mission from God. They did this knowingly and with malice. A full transcript of the interview reveals a completely different comment and this comment bears little resemblance to the one which was broadcast.

America! How much longer are we going to sit back and let media giants like NewsCorp treat us like children. They're playing us like fiddles and we have to make our voices heard! Or maybe, we can be good little boys and girls and accept everything we are being fed on a daily basis.

Wow. I'm starting to sound like those people that I used to made fun of all the time. You know, those idealistic youth hellbent on changing the world. Well, I don't expect to change the world but I do want everyone to question what they see and hear on a daily basis. I want a more informed public that can pressure our media outlets into giving us more of what we need and less of what they think we want.