DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER

Amy Goodman has written an excellent article on the Bush administration's violation of journalist's rights and ability to do their job. "The Bush administration has engaged in assault, intimidation, and imprisonment to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs." Two years ago Glenn Greenwald wrote a book on the subject.

He writes, "For the past 10 years, I was a litigator in NYC specializing in First Amendment challenges, civil rights cases, and corporate and securities fraud matters. I am the author of the New York Times Best-Selling book, How Would A Patriot Act?, a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, released May, 2006." View his complete profile.

Two years ago there were very clear posts about the problem. I quote: "The release of three Reuters journalists from custody this week raises new questions concerning Bush administration and U.S. military policy that has allegedly led to the deliberate murder of at least thirteen journalists in Iraq by U.S. soldiers."

This might explain why there are no longer TV journalists worth listening to other than the comics. They all sit on TV, figuratively crossing their legs, too frightened about their contracts being renewed than to stand up for journalistic integrity. They pretend to be giving news, when in fact, all that comes out of their mouths is their biased opinion. Gone are the days of newsrooms where truth and daring reigned and editors dared risk all to bring the truth to the citizens that trusted them. Not so today. Not only is the President not trusted, nor many religious figures, nor the law, nor politicians but, sadly, American TV journalists have joined that pitiful list of fallen once-respected-professionals.