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Whither or Wither the Fourth Estate?
by Alex Mendelsohn
A few weeks ago there was a rather large anti-war protest march in my neighboring town. On the morning of the march, my wife and I grabbed our dog, met some friends, and went over to the school playground where people were congregating, as is their right under the First Amendment.
What immediately caught my eye were the auxiliary police patrolling the entrance to the ball field where people were assembling. Unlike the police I've been accustomed to all my life, these officers were dressed in black.
There's something decidedly wrong with that. As far as I'm concerned, police in America should be dressed in the traditional combinations of blue and white, not in garb that resembles the Black Shirt thugs of Mussolini's era.
Check out the most frequently viewed video on You Tube in recent weeks. It's the 30-second clip of the arrest of journalist Amy Goodman at the Republican National Convention. When you watch it, notice that the police are dressed in black.
Now some may say the color of a uniform isn't a serious matter, but the black-jacketed authorities on the You Tube video are arresting reporters wearing press credentials. Journalists always have the right to cover events without police intervention, assuming the reporters aren't breaking the law. It’s a matter of checks and balances.
These are signs that something's amiss in America today. It’s increasingly easy to find disturbing examples. When President Bush came to my town on Earth Day to give a speech at a local wildlife preserve, a lot of local folks felt this visit spelled hypocrisy. They decided to visibly assemble to protest.
They were granted a permit, but it stipulated the protest had to take place within the confines of a remote fenced-in area. This "free speech zone" pen was equidistant from either of the two gates the president's motorcade would use to enter the conservation preserve.
The protesters were sited as far out of sight of the president as they could be! That deliberately thwarted the right of the townspeople to peaceably assemble and petition for a redress of grievances. How can you petition if the people you're petitioning don’t see you?
I've noticed something else. In the days of the Vietnam War, journalists made forays into the hottest combat zones, often into the front line of fire. They hitched rides on helicopters and jeeps with GIs, finding their way into the hot spots so they could capture the casualties of war, and report the truth.
Every night, Americans watching TV coverage of the Vietnam War were shocked by grim reality. They saw blood, guts, and death.
Contrast that with the embedded reporters of today's Iraq War press corps. Embedded reporters aren't free to report on whatever aspect of the war they wish to pursue. They cannot go wherever they wish to go, regardless of the risk. Instead, they're reporting on what the military wants them to see. They've become agents of a state-run media organization.
You don't have to go to Iraq to witness this ominous development either. Again, let’s turn to the recent Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The Fox News reporters closest to the action on the streets were embedded with the Twin Cities police. That's very cushy, but what about other members of the press? Reporters wishing to be free agents, to report on what they wished to cover, when they wished to cover it, and how they wished to report, were excluded, or arrested. That's clearly an abridgment of the freedom of the press, as granted in the First Amendment.
When these members of the press were arrested, in violation of their Constitutional rights, the city of St. Paul was prepared and covered. They had already negotiated with the Republican host committee. The latter put up a $10 million legal fund, so if the city did wrongdoing by going after reporters, the city wouldn’t have to pay any penalties. Great way to cost-effectively squelch dissent, eh?
As the war in Iraq goes on, and as it expands into Afghanistan and perhaps Pakistan, it's necessary for the American people to know what's truly going on. The mainstream media covers what the government and the military establishment want them to cover. I dare say mainstream news coverage is now extremist – a fact unrecognized by Joe Average sitting in front of his HDTV. His eyes are open, but he doesn’t see.
What is happening in America today? Is our beloved republic turning into a police state before our very eyes?
Recall the words of one of the founding fathers: "They who would give up essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Ben Franklin.
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