Just a lightly edited excerpt from a comment I made here last December that concerned the corporate media's Holy Grail: Access!

Glenn's comment neatly resonates with my own view that the First and Second Estates have long since taken possession of the Fourth Estate, and that its former tenants have accordingly meekly and obligingly moved to the servants' quarters out back.

Thus, deprived of the sweeping views formerly accessible from the grand mansion windows and the numerous towers and gables, the weltanschauung of the benighted servant class is limited to the grounds, and a rear view of the premises.

No wonder, then, that the scope and range of Really Important Stories is reduced, in the eyes of the servants, to low gossip based on fitful observation of the comings and goings of guests and visitors, and the scraps of Inside Information gleaned by incidental snooping, and moments when servants considered "trustworthy" are privileged to be present at the table or ballroom during private conversations, or are included in a passing moment of familiarity by the estate's Ruling Class denizens.

__________________________

I can't expand an already turgid metaphor, but of course a death within the servant family-- especially a Mr. Hudson-class honored retainer-- is another source of the fodder churned out by these degraded would-be scribes and heralds.

yawn

Cronkite was a true master of his craft...the old school journalist who knew that cozying up to pols was the worst thing one could ever do if they wanted to have any integrity...his skills were non pareil, and he is the last of a breed of dedicated men who reported on WWII, Vietnam and his favorite, the US space program. No one can forget that November day in 1963 when he had trouble holding back tears announcing the death of JFK, or when he condemned the Vietnam War, and LBJ said that if we lost Cronkite, we've lost the American people. Walter was among a rare breed of great American journalists: Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, Howard K. Smith, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, to name a few...my Dad, an AP reporter for some 40-odd years, looked up to these men as role models for how a reporter was suppose to cover a story: never falling for the bologna pols would hand them, and never being the government's stenographer, as some of today's journalists so ashamedly are.

Christopher1988

Whenever a jounalist becomes an editorialist, journalism suffers. Cronkite reporting on Vietnam and the success or failure of any mission is one thing. Cronkite waxing historical and trying to encourage a certain course of action through his monologues is something different.

A journalist's job is to show when a pol is lying...that's what Cronkite did...the military lied in 1968, as they did to us during both Gulf Wars...any journalist who sat back and regurgitated the lies fed them was being an accessory to those lies...Tim Russert was a perfect example of this...he never explained his role in Valerie Plame debacle; he was hoisted on his own petard when Bill Moyers called him out for allowing himself to fall for the lies Dick Cheney, Rummy, Condi and yes, Colin Powell, would feed him about WMD and other matters concerning the War in Iraq. Walter never would do this, and shows the contrast between Russert's generation of reporter as ass kisser versus Walter's era of journalist as political antagonist...(as was Edward R. Murrow).

Kitt posted this quote from Cronkite:

=="The invasion of Iraq was illegal from the start. Not only was Congress lied to in order to secure its support for the invasion of Iraq, but the war lacked the support of the United Nations Security Council and thus was an aggressive war initiated on the false pretenses of weapons of mass destruction. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."==

There are up to three lies in each sentence! Here are the facts. Iraq used chemical weapons on Iran and Kurds in its eight year war (1980-1988) against Iran, a war started by Iraq. That's right: chemical weapons! Two years later, on August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. (Saddam even offered Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Yemen parts of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia if they assisted him. They declined.) The United Nations authorized action against Iraq. The U.S. Congress authorized war against Iraq. In 1991, U.N. authorized forces led by the U.S. drove Iraq out of Kuwait. Iraq was signed an armistice. An armistice, not a peace treaty. PART 1 of 2 PARTS.

"She's a little formulaic in her use of "[insert name] gave me the clap" as the kill shot but she does get me to snickering from time to time."

i will have u no that only zoltun give me clap. knowbody else.

u give me dia-a-re-ah.

i luv u rrnerd. nerds r fun.

barnbert is a mensa person

I was going to reply to PC, but I waited to see if others had something to say. I'm glad I waited because you made my case better than I would have. Thanks.

=="The invasion of Iraq was illegal from the start. Not only was Congress lied to in order to secure its support for the invasion of Iraq, but the war lacked the support of the United Nations Security Council and thus was an aggressive war initiated on the false pretenses of weapons of mass destruction. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."==

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There are up to three lies in each sentence! Here are the facts. Iraq used chemical weapons on Iran and Kurds in its eight year war (1980-1988) against Iran, a war started by Iraq. That's right: chemical weapons! Two years later, on August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. (Saddam even offered Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Yemen parts of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia if they assisted him. They declined.) The United Nations authorized action against Iraq. The U.S. Congress authorized war against Iraq. In 1991, U.N. authorized forces led by the U.S. drove Iraq out of Kuwait. Iraq was signed an armistice. An armistice, not a peace treaty. PART 1 of 2 PARTS.

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Einstein. Cronkite was talking about the invasion of Iraq in this century, not the Gulf War (Desert Shield/Storm) which took place in the 90s.

However, you seem to be forgetting, in your haste to condemn Cronkite, it was the United States under Ronald Reagan who gave Saddam not only those chemical weapons, but the training to deliver them and the intelligence information with which to target them. That's right - chemical weapons! If you would like, I'll dig up a photo of Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam celebrating their close cooperation in this endeavor.

There also seems to be some question regarding whether the United States Department of State (Bush 41) actually greenlighted Saddam's invasion of Kuwait but there is no question that Kuwait was, indeed, using horizontal drilling methods to steal oil from Iraqi fields, which prompted the invasion.

Facts are funny things, aren't they. Perhaps you really should learn about them before opening your pie hole. Eh?