Woodward- Fallen Icon

I watched Larry King last night (Thurs night) and felt Woodward was being a little easy on the Shrubs and defending them a little more aggressively than was warranted for a 'newsman'. After reading R.J. Eskow's column on HuffPo, I'm angrier than I was watching it. And saddened. Woodward was a hero to people of my generation. He and Carl Bernstein pretty much single-handedly (double-handedly?) brought the Watergate story to light and their persistent pressure on the story ( with much Nixon administration pressure on the Post to stop them, with Katharine Graham going to the wall to defend them) kept the story moving and growing until the Congress took over and finally 'broke' John Dean, unraveling the whole sordid saga.

To see the 'hero' turn into a shill for the most corrupt administration since Harding is not only sad, it's disgusting. The whole media-as-sycophants-to-maintain(acquire)-access is a relatively new trend and really needs to be stopped. Maybe we need to get rid of the current crop of reporters and talking heads and replace them with 20-somethings eager to make a name and not mired in Beltway schmoozing. We DO need to stop and reverse the consolidation of media in fewer hands that more and more dependent on placating the powers that be to maintain their media empires. Thank god for the 'reportorial' blogosphere (I consider myself just a commentator, not a reporter) to expose and keep some of the more 'unpopular' stories alive and moving forward.

In a healthy democracy, the single most important factor is a dedicated and independent news media (whether print, radio, tv, internet) to keep the bastards in power honest. I think this is true whether the powers that be are Dems or Reps. Power DOES tend to corrupt, and the struggle to maintain power corrupts most absolutely. Scooter Libby probably is a good man, who truly believes the things he does are in the best interest of the country. However, his actions (and there are precious few who understand that he DID out Valerie Plame Wilson, regardless of Fitz's decision not to try him on a difficult, complex, hard to prove charge), driven by the need to maintain his bosses' power, and his own, were NOT in the best interest of the country.

We expect this sort of abberant behaviour from our elected officials (why?) but not from our 'heroes' in journalism. Judy Miller has a reputation for sycophantic, haphazard (at best) reportage; but to see Bob Woodward fall from grace in this manner is just heartbreaking.