Last week, the Poynter Institute, a prominent voice in media ethics, published an e-mail it received from NBC News President Steve Capus describing the process NBC undertook after the network received a package from Cho Seung-Hui, the student responsible for the deaths of 32 Virginia Tech students.  Before airing the video clips and photographs Cho sent, Capus said NBC consulted with Virginia law authorities and discussed internally for over seven and a half hours about what material to release to the public.  After NBC aired the footage, other major news networks almost immediately picked up on it and started airing the images, too.

The following post is from guest blogger Katie Yocum, a former Common Cause intern who describes herself as "young, idealistic and pissed off."


If ever there was a doubt that the Bush administration's ties to Fox News Channel are too incestuous, here lies your confirmation: The White House has offered the available position of Press Secretary to Fox News radio host, Tony Snow, who, before working for Fox News, worked as the speechwriting director for George H.W. Bush. This morning, Snow accepted the offer, trading his Fox radio show in for the high-stress White House gig; perhaps, he is turned on to the idea of transitioning from an undercover Bush administration mouthpiece to a legitimate Bush administration mouthpiece.

(side note: According to the Washington Post, the candidate second-in-line for this position was Dan Senor, who is -surprise!- also on the Fox News payroll as a news contributor and was a spokesperson for the U.S. Civilian Authority in Iraq. At this rate, the next employee shuffle might involve Cheney resigning from his post to go hold hands with Rupert Murdoch at News Corp.)

All jokes aside, this is an unsettling development in the latest Bush administration employee shake-up, as its implications for our media system and its too friendly relations with the White House are too serious to laugh off. Although this is not the first time a White House administration has recruited a well-known news correspondent for the Press Secretary position, the "Fair and Balanced" network is renowned for its explicit conservative leanings. Our founding fathers called for an independent media system that is not only free from government control but is meant to be a watchdog of the government. Resembling more of a lap-dog than a watchdog, our media system is failing us, because a media system that marches in lockstep with the government poses a threat to democracy.