And we wonder why journalism is in decline

Much of the commentary about the Bush administration' production of prepackaged 'news reports' has focused on whether the administration is guilty of disseminating propaganda.

Honestly, though, why wouldn't they do everything they can to control the news as long as the media and the public are letting them get away with it? For my part, I'm more pissed off at the media for distributing this crap than I am with the administration for producing it.

I love the way Dan Gilmor described his feelings about this in a recent post:

I reserve special contempt for the TV stations that used this rancid material...

Gilmor's post also pointed me to a damning statement in NY Times' columnist Frank Rich's recent column, Enron: Patron Saint of Bush's Fake News:

At last weekend's Gridiron dinner, Mr. Bush made a joke about how "most" of his good press on Social Security came from Armstrong Williams, and the Washington press corps yukked it up. (emphasis added)

And we wonder why journalism is in decline. Come on, guys, how can we expect the public to respect us if we don't even respect ourselves?