Has the 4th Estate Contracted a chronic illness, or have we?

http://www.mediamatters.com

Media Matters has asked an open question to it's readers regarding the "End" of the Iraq War and the media's reaction to it. My comment follows.

After the video masturbation that editors called "embedded reporting" during the invasion designed to stop those ubiquitous mushroom clouds, it's hard to figure out what good the "media" has done since Cronkite retired. I distinctly remember reading a CNN story several years back when I was asked to reflect on the fact that CNN was "20 years old!" Who gives a damn? was my reply to the inane question.

It was an epiphany for me. belated though it was, to understand how blurry the lines of celebrity/infotainment/and journalism had become over the years since Fox arrived on the scene and challenged the status quo. Silly me, I thought it was a good thing at the time, not realizing it was to become the armed wing of the RNC just as Sinn Fein had the IRA to "send the message" when it was told to.

Stay with the BBC, ITN, and other news sources that still believe in an independent Fourth Estate dedicated to spread light in the dark corners where the scum and mildew of political and corporate operations converge. Right now, their battle for veracity and respect is an uphill battle against the spinmeisters of all stripe and an American public so intimidated and stupid that facts are merely another set of words few understand or will investigate on their own.

So far as I can tell, the US "media" did this to themselves and until they find the fortitude and cojones in the board and editorial rooms to correct their descent into oblivion and stock dividends, they will continue shoveling their corporate/RNC-approved swill into the slack-jawed ignoramuses who desperately seek acceptance of their shared ignorance.

This situation and my gut reactions to it are best portrayed In a short but pivotal scene in "Apocalypse Now" after Roach, a dazed but muscular infantryman fired a grenade launcher into the darkness, ultimately silencing his shrill, unseen tormentor (the media) across the wire, "Motherfucker, " remarked Roach at the deafening quiet that ensues. Exactly my sentiments, as well, when Martin Sheen's character demanded that Roach reveal who was in charge of the circus-like cluster fuck and Roach answered, "Ain't you?"