What Has The Media Come To?

Last Night on Anderson Cooper 360, CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin seemingly admitted that those higher up in the media put tremendous pressure on the press corps to report favorably on the President in the run up to the war. Here's the video via HuffingtonPost:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/29/cnns-yellin-on-run-up-to_n_104058.html

And a direct quote from Jessica Yellin:
"And my own experience at the White House was that, the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives -- and I was not at this network at the time -- but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president."

In my last blog post I accused the media of not doing their job, as in not acting as the "government watchdog". This is just another perfect example of the media not doing its job. Like in the Scott McClellan issue, Jessica Yellin just said what a lot of people (or those on the left) have been thinking: corporate executives had put tremendous pressure on reporters and the press corps to report the President in a positive light. Granted this was when the government was making the case for the war and when his favorability rating was at a high. The execs were more concerned about their image (and money of course) and did not want to be seen us unpatriotic and such.

A concern about image should not be a problem. The media should not be a mouthpiece for the Whitehouse. This is not a Communist or Fascist nation. The five major networks, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Fox News (they're barely a news organization) needs to report to the American people, no to government elites. Hopefully that will change in the future. At least now the internet has become vitally important in how news is reported.



And in lighter news, Rupert Murdoch, the unassuming conservative mogul of Fox, has just said Obama will win in the general and called McCain "unpredictable." Here's video:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-rosen/rupert-murdoch-says-obama_b_104018.html