Liberal Press Negligent in Their Fourth Estate Duties

The Fourth Estate.  We sometimes hear about it and journalists claim to take pride that their profession is referred to as such but what does it mean?  Originally, the term applied to the various factions in French civil society.  The First Estate were members of the clergy, the Second the nobles, the Third the commoners and the Fourth… the press.  Americans probably think it refers to the three branches of our government plus one… the press.  Even though thinking about the Fourth Estate is technically incorrect it does capture the truth in its spirit – Checks and Balances.  Thus, the press is supposed to investigate, question, critique, prod, and correct our elected officials when what they say or do is wrong in some way.

The American press – the vast majority of it – long ago stopped doing its job equally.  Witness the Barack Obama phenomenon.  Many in the press wanted Obama to win.  They’d rather write the story of a Liberal black man defeating what many saw as a Liberal sell-out woman, Hillary Clinton.  Obama is black, he is white, his mother was an American, his father was an immigrant.  His wife is pretty and intelligent… their two daughters could go on a Hallmark card.  It all played into their views of what they saw America to be.  America might be many things but it is also the best person is the best one for the job.  We see now how most of the press has sold us out for a good story and personal bias.

Witness closing Gitmo.  Obama made this a centerpiece of his campaign.  Nevermind many of these dangerous suspect would be released to their home countries (places like Yemen which produce terrorists like the Dutch produce tulips) or that moving Gitmo someplace else would simply be Gitmo someplace else.  The rhetoric of George W. Bush as an example of everything that is wrong with America won the day.

Witness Cap and Trade (or “global warming”) and the destruction it would rein down on our economy as an arbitrary substance is taxed to the clouds all to support failed science and disproved theories.  Al Gore’s “the Earth has only 50 days left” gets front page coverage while the Climategate scandal goes weeks without even appearing on and pages of any major newspaper.  No 60 Minutes pieces about that thank you.

Witness Obamakare/Pelosikare/Reidkare where Democratic senators sell their votes to the highest bidder (Democratic Senator Nelson exempts his state from Medicare increases or Democratic Senator Chris Dodd gets $100 million for UConn for hospital construction).

Or witness President Obama who has spent more money than every previous president combined and yet he has the temerity to go unchallenged when he says we should not be spending our currency like it was Monopoly Money.

Witness the brutal crushing of pro-democracy supporters in Iran after stolen presidential elections versus how the press treated George H.W. Bush after the Tiananmen Square massacre:

The President has made the same argument since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacres, and nothing has changed. It’s time for Congress to slap some trade sanctions on China, he added.

Meanwhile, Obama snubbed the Dali Lama and it was brushed aside by the same paper:

White House officials have been working for months to make sure that Mr. Obama’s three-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing conveys a conciliatory image. For instance, in June, the White House told the Dalai Lama that while Mr. Obama would meet him at some point, he would not do so in October, when the Tibetan spiritual leader visited Washington, because it was too close to Mr. Obama’s visit to China.

Much has been written on this matter since Obama began his run for the presidency and once he took office.  The problem is that, despite all the words that have been written, nothing is changing.  Newspapers and political magazines continue to see their subscriptions fall, Liberals news programs continue to see their viewership drop while the now Conservative Wall Street Journal enjoys increased subscriptions and FOX News continues to dominate on cable.

Despite all of these facts, our Fourth Estate provides little balance and remains absent from carrying out their professional duties.

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