Yes Virginia, it is a state run media

I'm sure you've heard about the secret orders issued by Bush authorizing warrantless domestic spying. I've already posted on this yesterday at the Detroit News blog, but there's one aspect of this that I find especially troubling as noted in today's WaPo.

In an unusual note, the Times said in its story that it held off publishing the 3,600-word article for a year after the newspaper's representatives met with White House officials. It said the White House had asked the paper not to publish the story at all, "arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny."

The WaPo also pre-screened their scoop on the CIA prisons overseas. This raises an obvious question that has so far been unanswered. WTF is the press doing, vetting their articles through the White House anyway? Our press is supposed to be exposing the wrongdoing of our government, not functioning as a pre-approved propaganda mill. Haven't they noticed yet that by buying into the whole "national security - 9/11 changed everything" lie that they're as culpable as the White House for the mess we're in now?

US newspapers wonder why they're becoming irrelevant? It's because they stopped functioning as news sources and focus on infotainment in an attempt to raise profits. Any one who cares about news, is getting it from sources that still employ the methodology of investigative reporting and the readers that only care about news that amuses already has Fox. That crowd only looks at the pictures anyway. If the US press wants its readers back, it should try giving us something worth reading.