The MSM is held in low esteem these days. There are a lot of reasons for this. Sloppy reporting, faked stories, lack of editorial oversight. The Dan Rather dustup of a few years back didn’t help the MSM at all. The list goes on and on. The result being what we see today, people distrustful of the MSM and more and more potential voters turning instead, to talk radio, cable news and the political bloggers on the Internet. As it stands now fewer and fewer people are getting their news from the traditional newspapers and media outlets. Nowadays more and more people are relying on television and the Internet.

So you’d think. With things going so bad, maybe the mainstream press has finally learned its lesson. Maybe it’s finally returned to doing its traditional job in a free society, which is to (1) question those in power and (2) question those who seek power in the electoral process. Instead, just one look at the current Democratic Party nominating cycle will tell you that it hasn’t. Rather than concentrating on any issue of public policy, the MSM is treating Sen. Hillary Clinton as a bumbling has-been who can do nothing right, and treating Sen Barack Obama has a brilliant , charismatic celebrity speechifyer who can do nothing wrong.

Thus when Sen. Clinton quite legitimately questions Sen. Obama’s lack of experience, or concrete plans for what, exactly an Obama administration might do, if he were elected, she gets branded as somehow or another ‘negative.’ Since when is legitimate criticism of your opponent’s lack of experience going ‘negative’? We are told about her organizational difficulties, and her lack of money. We are reminded again and again that Mrs Clinton does not do well in caucuses. She’s criticized for her dependency on fat cats. Then, despite the fact that both candidates agreed to the rules of the Democratic National Committee that ‘Superdelegates’ will have a hand in choosing the nominee, she is criticized for depending on yes, Superdelegates in order to get the nomination. Never mentioning of course, that Sen. Obama has a certain number of these delegates pledged to him. Point is, where’s the beef? Where is the tough questioning on the real issues concerning most voters? There’s an unpopular war on. There’s the question of how to pay for universal health care. There’s those jobs that are being shipped overseas. Where are the jobs in the new economy going to come from. What about free trade? What about illegal immigration? What to do about Afghanistan and Pakistan? Theses issues don’t exist if you listen to the MSM. Just Hillary bashing and Obama praising.

Isn’t it about time that the MSM starts concentrating on the issues separating the candidates, rather than dealing with their campaign finances, or speech-making abilities or the number of people who show up at their respective rallies. Or, in the case of Hillary Clinton, whether or not Bill Clinton helps or hurts her, or how one candidate does well in caucuses while the other doesn’t. Who really cares?

Unless the MSM concentrates on issues, it’s not doing its job in a free society. Worse, failure do deal with the tough issues of the day simply provides a smoke-screen that allows the political candidates to campaign by preaching to the choir, without having to face tough questioning.

Posted 11:30 AM