With each newspaper layoff- a little bit more of the establishment that is SUPPOSED to keep America's politicians honest is dying.
Many (I) would say the "Free Press" went into a coma during W's administration.
Over the past 30 years- corporations bought up news media outlets- both print and electronic- leveraging their newly-acquired properties to buy more.
When the excretement met the rapidly rotating device- the greedy corporations starting cutting jobs in their properties.
Corporations- with their Capitol City lobbyists- made sure reporting didn't offend those who made future rules and laws that would benefit those corporations.
The reporting that wasn't done allowed the messes we experience today- and continued layoffs in newsrooms across the country (world) will further dilute an already tasteless product.
Many don't like "the news"- saying "(the news) is always bad."
Well- news is stuff like telling you a truck you don't see is about to T-bone you. News is keeping track of those you elect and what they are doing to make your life better or worse.
"The news" is what keeps us free- though not nearly as free as we were 10 years ago- thanks to an increasingly-sedentary "Free Press."
That old saying of "what you don't know won't hurt you" is bogus: what we don't know will destroy the "American Way of Life."
Closings of newspapers- staff reductions in newsrooms across America will hasten that process- begun by billions poured into irresponsibly-run financial institutions and sure to garner hyper-inflation soon.
Gee- there MAY be a story there....
___________
