The Media and Politicians... 

Here's a few different stories on the media... and their interactions with politicians (both via Instapundit.

First from Britian. The Sun is holding their people responsible for lining Saddam's pockets with UNSCAM:

SADDAM-supporting MP George Galloway blew his top yesterday after The Sun sent him a barrel of OIL.

Mr Galloway claims he has never seen one — so we arranged for him to have his own 200-litre drum.

It came as the Glasgow Kelvin MP fiercely denied pocketing £1million from Iraqi tyrant Saddam.

Read the whole thing, including the pictures of the barrel and Mr. Glasgow hiding it in the hedges.

Second, from the US... President Bush reminds the media of something we all know by now:

And the reporter then said: Well, how do you then know, Mr. President, what the public is thinking? And Bush, without missing a beat said: You're making a powerful assumption, young man. You're assuming that you represent the public. I don't accept that.

Go to The Instapundit Archive for his take, and all sort of reactions from his readers, including some emails he received from former journalists:

President Bush is right. The media do not represent the people. Journalists (I hesitate to call them reporters because they are all failures at that job), whether working for electronic or print media, represent a minority of vocal holier/smarter than thou liberals who would make all important decisions for the "great, unwashed masses" that comprise the electorate in our country.

I am a former reporter. I have a journalism degree. I left the business because of its drift from real reportage to advocacy and the abandonment of journalistic standards and ethics in favor of the kind of slanting and spinning we see today on the pages of the morning paper and on the evening news broadcasts. I knew it was time to find another way to make a living when I watched Peter Jennings, on a closed circuit feed to ABC affiliates, berate the American voter for Ronald Reagan's election victory over Jimmy Carter. Jennings, who was a Canadian citizen at the time, repeated that disgraceful performance in a toned down manner thenight he ascribed the Gingrich led Republicans' takeover of the House of Representatives to a temper tantrum by the voters.

This is why I personally don't watch mainstream news... I prefer to read my news from all sorts of blogs out there... which is actual fair, unbiased coverage of stories. Not only that, when the make a mistake, they put the correction right along side the story, where you can read it right away... not 50 pages away in little itty bitty type that nobody can read or even find.

Speaking of which... I really have to update my links.