'Too adversarial? That's a joke, yes?'

Henry Raymont
HRaymont@aol.com

1952 Nieman fellow; syndicated columnist, roving reporter based in Washington, D.C.

Too "adversarial"??? You must be joking. [Note: Part of the question asked by Niemanwatchdog.org was whether the press has been too adversarial or not adversarial enough.] Not only I but the  totality of my German colleagues, both in and out of the university and in and out of the media are appalled by what they consider a puzzling quiescence  of the American media – with a handful of noble exceptions [NPR, notably Dan  Schorr, The Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, NYTimes and that respite on TV--the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central] – that in itself should  be a source of soul-searching irony.

The younger critics all seem to agree that the absence of sharper criticism is the result of the  expanding conglomerate ownership of the media which has resulted in a virtual muzzling of the most penetrating analysts.

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