Geo. W. Bush and the Press

Interesting article in the Jan. 15th New Yorker magazine regarding Geo. W. Bush and how protesters are segregated off to an area far removed from the general public and press. The story itself is not available online but a Question and Answer session with the author is here. The author (Ken Auletta) maintains a website here but the article isn't there either... (grumble) The New Yorker article is called "Fortress Bush; How the White House keeps the Press under control". It is worth reading - the online Q&A cited earlier gives some insights into Bush's relations with the press but I have a couple points to quibble with... bq. DANIEL CAPPELLO: All Presidents complain about the press. How is the Bush White House different? bq. KEN AULETTA: In two ways. They are more disciplined. They reject an assumption embraced by most reporters: that we are neutral and represent the public interest. Rather, they see the press as just another special interest. No shit Sherlock... Just take a look at the reporting coming out of the Middle-East during the run-up for the war, during the war and after it. The embedded reporters actually got to see what the Coalition forces were dealing with while the 'celebrity' reporters hung out in the bar at the Palestine hotel in Baghdad paying their Baathist minders $100/day baksheesh to be allowed to use their own satellite dishes to transmit vetted stories back to the American media. And more: bq. DANIEL CAPPELLO: Members of the Bush Administration complain that the media are too liberal, and too biased. Do they have a point? bq. KEN AULETTA: Sometimes. Although the press�s surveys of the Washington press corps are less scientific than many conservative critics say they are, privately many White House reporters concede that they are probably somewhat more liberal than the majority of American voters. Thank you for that ray of insight and honesty! Let's see - the President has a greater than 60% approval rating throughout the the U.S.A. and yet the media is quick to pounce on any story that portrays Bush as a less than capable leader. Hey, whatever sells newspapers... And finally, this howler: bq. DANIEL CAPPELLO: One of the more striking quotes in your piece is from Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, who told you that he doesn't believe the press has a �check-and-balance function.� But should it, in a democratic society? bq. KEN AULETTA: Yes. One of the reasons we have such extraordinary freedoms under the First Amendment is that the Founding Fathers understood the need for checks and balances�three coequal branches of government and, eventually, a Fourth Estate: the press. We don�t have a parliamentary system, so the press, which has access to public officials, has to ask questions. Ken - show me exactly in the Constitution where the press is to be considered a Fourth Estate. The First Amendment deals with personal rights. The Preamble starts off like this: "We the People of the United States... " We the People Ken, Got that? It is not the job of the media to be The People, it's us - the people you are peddling your biased stories to and I am telling you that I find fault with your bias and do not like it. Ken - I will quote part of your answer back to you again: bq. One of the reasons we have such extraordinary freedoms under the First Amendment is that the Founding Fathers understood the need for checks and balances�three coequal branches of government and, eventually, a Fourth Estate: the press. Here is the entire text of the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The press has freedom. The press in the U.S.A. has a hell of a lot more freedom than the press in Cuba or China or Iran or Saudi Arabia or Zimbabwe or France for that matter (read this and then this). But -- there is no place in the First Amendment that states that the press has the power to become a Fourth Estate and to regulate the actions of the government. The press has the power to inform and entertain "We the People", but it is ultimately "We the People" who decide who to vote for (another social nicety missing in a lot of other countries) and which newspaper to buy.