OLD MEDIA ... ON LIFE SUPPORT .. or ...R.I.P.?

When Old Media subjects an ordinary little guy like Joe the Plumber, a private citizen, who had the audacity to ask candidate Obama a sincere question, to the equivalent of a forensic audit, is it too much to ask that it do the same for cabinet appointees like tax cheat Timothy Geithner. Or perhaps organizations implicated in voter fraud and other criminal activity like ACORN?

Apparently, it is. Media elites prefer to step on little people instead of doing their job looking out for our interests against the corruptible power of the politicians from any and all political parties. The voluntary forfeiture of Old Media's role as government watchdog is a profound tragedy and raises some disturbing implications to consider. Thanks to these media elites, for the first time in American history, we now have a virtually unchecked administration. This is unprecedented. When a watchdog becomes an obsequious lapdog, the rotting corpse of liberty will soon be available for viewing. These media elites have failed us miserably and have betrayed our trust. They've taken their pathetic hard left bias to a new level: advocacy journalism. They've got so much invested in Mr. Obama that they've lost the last shred of credibility they had left after viciously savaging the Bush Administration and the Republican Party over the last eight years. Their vitriolic hatred of Mr. Bush exposed their lack of any self control and objectivity. So much so, in fact, that media elites have become all but irrelevant to most fair-minded Americans.

Media elites used to at least make an attempt to conceal their unmistakable bias, but today, there's no need for such pretense. Its on full, unapologetic display in such glory that it would make even lesbians blush at a gay pride parade in San Francisco. What Old Media serves up as "news" isn't really news. Its nothing more than opinion and analysis and it belongs in its editorial pages and on its broadcast news-analysis programs. Media elites have proudly presided over two disturbing developments: first, they've allowed their hard left bias to inform their news coverage, and second, they've allowed their analysis, opinion and editorial content to become embarrassingly biased. So much so, in fact, that dissenting viewpoints are seldom, if ever, heard.

If Old Media simply presented the news of the day objectively and embraced, or at least tolerated, more diversity in its analysis and opinion, it would still have the almost half of the population which has since gone elsewhere. Its difficult to listen to media elites drone on about how un-fair and biased Fox News Channel (FNC). As if these media elites are somehow not guilty of doing the very same thing. But, in fact, they're once again revealing their hypocrisy and their complaints ring hollow. Because the truth is, that while many of FNC's program hosts hold dissenting views from those held by media elites, the guest list on FNC programs almost always include politically liberal guests who are given ample opportunity to freely express their views, make their arguments and to disagree with the other viewpoints on the table, allowing the viewer to benefit from such exchanges. You will seldom, if ever, see this kind of diversity in Old Media broadcasts. And what did these media elites expect fair-minded and objective journalists to do after they were excused from Old Media. The rise of FNC is a self-inflicted wound which is wreaking havoc in the boardrooms of Old Media.

Now, I'm not a big fan of FNC, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize the obvious and unmistakable distinction between FNC and Old Media on the matter of simple fairness and diversity of opinion. Its doubtful that the meteoric growth of FNC would have occurred had media elites remained true to journalism's core mission and adhered to traditional journalistic values such as balance, objectivity and vigilance. But instead, they gave into their utter contempt for their political opponents and the little guy with whom they have utterly nothing in common. And in doing so, abandoned journalism's traditional, time-honored values, which is as shameful as it was avoidable.

The undoing of these otherwise bright individuals stems largely from two factors. First, they underestimate our ability to recognize propaganda and cheerleading, and second, they dismiss the resentment they create by telling us what we should think and treating their readers and viewers like children and fools. After all, they graduated from elite schools, they live in NYC, Boston, DC, San Francisco or LA and they're smarter, more sophisticated and more nuanced than you are. Besides, you can't be trusted to think for yourself when presented with all the facts and given the competing viewpoints to consider. Then again, perhaps they're afraid that you will indeed think for yourself and draw a different conclusion from theirs. Or perhaps they're in denial that they've really just become tiresome, arrogant and condescending. They dismiss the fact that most Americans believe in the inherent value of a level playing field, neutral umpires, and that we tend to cheer for the underdog.

At its best, Old Media used to play the constructive and indispensable role of the impartial referee, forcing the combatants in the marketplace of ideas to play by the same set of rules and by calling fouls when needed. This, unfortunately, is no longer the case, which is the chief complaint we have with the media elite. Since we're a nation almost equally divided between liberals and conservatives, the outcome of our national elections tends to be decided by the eight percent of the unaffiliated voters who consider themselves to be independents. Now all good debaters will tell you that whichever team succeeds in framing the argument is the team which will benefit by having an almost insurmountable advantage against its opponent. The power of being able to frame the debate in national elections can't be exaggerated, and its something not lost on media elites or the combatants. So, not surprisingly, media elites skillfully frame every argument in such a way as to marginalize the conservative position and put conservatives on the defensive even before their opening remarks. Consequently, its no surprise that the viewpoints argued relentlessly by media elites and their liberal allies during the many months of campaigning tend to eventually sway a majority of these swing voters in the final days leading up to the election, and thus liberals tend to carry the day.

I hope we're witnessing nothing less than Old Media's pathetic, whimpering exit from American life. We're on our own here, folks, because in this case, we're better off having no watchdog than the one we have now. So we're going to have to do it ourselves until we find some intellectually honest journalists who can step up to the plate and serve this vital role on our behalf. The sooner the better. We deserve better.