The Occasional Media Ritual of Lamenting the Habitual

[Comentary] Dan Rather caused some ripples the other day when he lamented the state of U.S. news media. The former CBS anchor said "there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career," according to the Hollywood Reporter. Speaking at a law school in New York on Sept. 19, he warned that politicians have been putting effective pressure on the corporate owners of major broadcast outlets. Over the course of his career, Rather occasionally voiced alarm that news outlets were being intimidated by government authorities and other powerful interests. But he didn't noticeably challenge such constraints in his on-air work. The pattern that we've seen from prominent TV news correspondents. In a wartime frenzy, they blend in with the prevailing media scenery. Later, a few briefly utter words of regret. But next time around they revert to the habit of behaving like war cheerleaders instead of independent journalists.
[SOURCE: Alternet, AUTHOR: Norman Solomon]