Richard Cay Johnston: author, investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, specializing in economics and tax matters.
And then there are those such as Greg Palast, free-lance writer and author, Robert Naiman, foreign policy analyst and researcher, Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences, and many others that are a part of this cadre of high level journalists.
While some of these excellent journalists often appear on various TV shows you won't see such independent thinkers on Fox News or for that matter their appearance on the Sunday news shows would be rare if at all. Their writings and appearances are generally found on independent, progressive type, news outlets, magazines and websites.
Those who yearn for more objective journalism should spend more and more time on the internet and completely dismiss the mainstream media; millions upon millions of Americans are already making this transition. However, as more Americans gravitate from the mainstream media to the internet we will find a corresponding increase in the level of government surveillance to try to attempt to control those who become overly aggressive in investigating and exposing government abuses and corruption.
We watch as journalism rapidly evolves from its current low point in the mainstream media to new heights on the Web. But, at the same time, it's becoming very evident that these independent-minded journalists are in danger of being treated as if they are whistleblowers or even guilty of treason if, for example, they expose more incidences of government spying and other invasions of citizens' rights of privacy under the Constitution. This is another example of how this government is determined to stamp out elements of dissension and activism in this country.
There are some well-meaning individuals who are proposing alternate ways by which to preserve objective journalism in America. For example, that image shown above came from a Democracy Now interview with the authors of a new book with the same title, Robert McChesney and John Nichols who contend that journalism in America, as practiced by all forms of the mainstream media, is in a state of decay and in the throes of a death spiral; and I couldn't agree more.
However, what they propose as their solution, using government subsidies and programs such as a News AmeriCorps that would train the next generation of journalists with government funding is going in exactly the wrong direction. Directly involving the government in this profession that thrives on independent thinking is like giving the fox the jurisdiction over the hen house; it would turn American journalism into a form of government servitude and the free press would be no more.
Check out this article entitled "Journalists Accuse White House of Politically-Driven Suppression of News." It states that "Over three dozen journalist organizations including the Radio Television Digital News Association, National Press Foundation, and the Society of Professional Journalists, have asked the President to drop the excessive controls on public information by federal agencies, branding it politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies."
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