The Press: Old and New
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Although it has no constitutional function, the press has long had an important role to play in the American system of government. Often called The Fourth Estate, the press (now more often called "the media") is promoted in civics classes and in their own words as conducting a watchdog function over government. The cases of Watergate and Vietnam are often pointed to as examples of the media performing this role, and there are numerous examples of this at the state and local levels. However, this century has witnessed an evolving intimate, even symbiotic, relationship between the media and government, at least at the national level. From the Hearst newspaper chain's active promotion of the Spanish-American War through the often breathless trumpeting of the Gulf War by many major outlets, the large and influential purveyors of the news have come to be seen by many as merely another arm of the Establishment, with serious questioning and investigation of the government in the muckraking tradition carried out by more marginal sources. In recent years, with the explosion of new communication technologies from the fax machine to the Internet, there are increasing numbers of marginal, or samizdat, news and information sources, as well as increased access to them by the general public. It is the intent of this paper to compare and contrast the coverage of one of these new media outlets to that of a traditional, established source. For the purposes of this re
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has been the straightforward presentation of information, generally unbiased. For example, while the February 23 issue contained excerpts from Monica Lewinsky's e-mail, which defenders of the President might consider a display of bias against him, the February 9 issue contained a detailed explication of the reputed "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" pushed by Hillary Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal, which opponents of the President might consider a display of bias in the other direction.
While the possible biases of Newsweek can be debated, such is not the case for Salon. Salon is a decidedly and admittedly left-leaning publication (it should be noted that such a bias is not necessarily a bad thing; indeed, for the purposes of analysis, it makes the case of Salon in many ways more interesting than that of Newsweek). Although, like many on the left, the writers and editors at Salon are not entirely comfortable with President Clinton, they have leapt to his defense on this issue. Indeed, Salon has leapt more forcefully than most, as evidenced by some of their article titles, such as "Linda Tripp, Nazi Agent," or (conservative publisher and avowed Clinton enemy) "R. Emmett Tyrell - Asshole, or Just a Plain Dick?"
Nonetheless, Salo
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Approximate Word count = 2728
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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