Media Watchdogs Caught Napping

When Dan Rather speaks, America listens. Owing to his status as
one of the country?s most well-respected television journalists,
many see Rather as a trustworthy source of information. Disquieting
to hear, then, is that even he harbors doubts about the state of
journalism in America today. In an interview with the BBC, Rather
has admitted to, at best, a lack of candor in the U.S. media and,
at worst, a troubling degree of self-censorship among journalists.
Perhaps because of such insights into the inner workings of the
media, many Americans are looking to sources overseas for their
news, as Leander Kahney reports in the Webzine, Wired
News
. Kahney notes that, in January, ?half the visitors to the
Guardian Unlimited news site . . . were from the Americas,? a
number partially responsible for an overall ?10 percent increase in
visitors? to the site. This increase in American visitors to
foreign news sites is, Kahney argues, the result of the U.S.
journalists? failure to call the government to task for its
decisions, an action that forces Americans to look abroad for the
vigorous debate of U.S. policy so conspicuously absent from most of
the mainstream media?s coverage of events.
?Amelia Bauerly

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  • Published on Mar 1, 2003
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