Another headline could be, "Scott Collins Breaks With the Left, Keeps Faith With Readers."
Collins' "Channel Island" column in The LA Times has always been a must-read for Cable Gamers. But this piece of his, on the Democrats' effort to spike Fox News, is dyn-o-mite.
The issue at hand is the Democrats' attempted effort to squelch Fox News. The immediate flashpoint, of course, is the fracas over the upcoming FNC-sponsored debate, but the larger issue is the question of whether politics can flatten the First Amendment.
So read it fast, it before Media Matters and NewsHounds and FAIR, and all the other Democratic tools and lefty hitpersons, get it yanked offline. Here're some excerpts from Collins' truly brave piece:
So it needs to be said: The Democrats are dead wrong not to debate on Fox News. And it's hypocritical for the supposedly nonpartisan media to stand by and do nothing while a TV network ... is trashed by mega-million-dollar political campaigns in the heat of a White House primary battle. When politicians, one of whom may very well be the next president of the United States, start using their platforms to lob missiles at news-gathering organizations they don't like, it's hard to see how that's much different than President Nixon's infamous "enemies list." ...
What's happening with the Fox News debate is the latest stop in that sorry journey of behind-the-scenes manipulation of what viewers see and hear ...
If Democrats get away with spurning Fox News now, there's nothing to stop campaigns from barring other news organizations whenever they feel like it...
The boycott is questionable on both tactical and strategic grounds as well. As the No. 1 cable news network, Fox News could provide a critical forum for the Democratic contenders... The boycott will have the unintended effect of teeing up the eventual GOP nominee to make a noisy demand to meet his Democratic rival on Fox News before the election.
But those are matters best left to political advisors. The main point is that it's a horrible precedent to allow presidential candidates to boycott and pillory major news organizations as propaganda machines. Are politicians free to play favorites and punish transgressors in the press corps? ...
Shutting down a legitimate debate, however, is carrying things way too far and does a disservice to all Americans. ... Those who would lead the nation shouldn't be able to get away with it..
* The Spike was the title of a 1981 best-selling novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave and Robert Moss, detailing the ways in which a useful-idiot Western media imposed political correctness on the truth about communism. Today, the New Spike is the effort of the same MSM to dictate p.c orthodoxy of thought on politics and policy in America.
The Spike reminded us that we need a diverse media with real resources--not just bloggers in their pajamas, as much as I love my own kind--to speak truth to power and back it up with journalistic muscle. We need a robust Fourth Estate, including Fox News, to speak that truth to power--all kinds of power.
Which is to say, nothing much has changed in the past quarter-century!
