The Death and Rebirth of the Muckrakers

When the media world was in its early days, newspapers were highly reputable pieces of information. They told of happenings going on around the world, actions that would be taking place between counties, countries, or states. Or perhaps all three. In either case, the media would give the information, possibly a counter point, and additional information that viewers of that media could use to form their own opinions about the happenings of the world. The keywords being "the world."

These kinds of practices continued from the early days of media to the relatively recent times. In the 1980's, the news media started to turn with certain celebrities actions. When this started happening, the ball started rolling. The ball is still rolling. When it started, it was something small that the news companies just put in for gossip hounds and obsessed fans. Now, the news is dominated with stories of the celebrity plastic faces. Paris Hilton going to jail eclipses the rise in gas costs. Britney Spear's baldness overshadowing a higher death toll in Iraq. The road to the Iraq War being sidelined because the news networks were afraid to be viewed as unpatriotic.

But there in lies another question: What is a patriot? Is a patriot a person who blindly follows whatever the government tells them to do? Or is a patriot someone who knows their ideals, and sticks to them, no matter what they're told? Our news networks used to be the best in the world, now they're common Hollywood trash rags put in video format.

There are a couple news shows that are legitimate, even though they are entirely satirical. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report have shown time and time again that they have their ears to the ground more so than the larger, richer news shows. Did Jon Stewart spend hours and hours talking about Britney's new hair cut? Did Stephen Colbert talk about Paris going to jail instead of "praising" the politically right's choices in congress?

The question is: how much is the news network bending to the will of the government? How much does the government tell the news they don't want to tarnish their image? And why are the news networks bending to their will?