KRUGMAN STRIKES AGAIN!
Read it here.
Krugman hits the nail on the head with his column on how the media's objectivity and independence is compromised not necessairly by state ownership, but by the profitablity of cooperating with the party in power (specifically, the Republican party, I don't remember giving Clinton a break all that often). This story is really underreported, but is very important. Its really rather disturbing how outfits like Clear Channel (whose radio stations have been conistently pro-war and have organized "grass-roots" rallies) have been cozying up to the Bush administration in order to recieve regulatory goodies from the FCC. A man like Milton Friedman would point out that this case shows the dangers of government regulation being used to discourage dissent (he used a similar case involving the Oil Companies in one of the more hysterical chapters of Free to Choose), but I don't think that's the case. Or maybe I do. Libertarians frequently point out the myraid of methods at the disposal of the government (such as regulation, federal contracts, etc.) which can be used for political purposes. It appears that the Republican (and the Bush administration in particular) are much better at and muc more prone to take taking advantage of these opportunities. The Republicans seem bent on structurally weakening the Democrats, the meddling with the media (which really just kind of exacerbating the media's rightward drift) is only part of the plan, they have also been moving to enforce loyalty among lobbyists and campaign contributors, threatening firms that buck them. I think the Democrats need to win soon before the GOP further consolidates its power.