A lot of people forget that Joseph Farah was once a serious, card-carrying member of the mainstream media, so he knows very well whereof he speaks:
While Simon and most of our colleagues like to reflect on the post-Watergate era as heralding a renaissance in good journalism, I can tell you as an eyewitness just the opposite was true.
Where we went wrong was thinking of ourselves as high priests of a new secular religion that was going to save the world. That was never the mission of American journalism. The free press has a vital role in a free society, but it is not to create a “glorious new church.” It is simply to serve as a watchdog on government and other powerful institutions, to keep them in check, to be the eyes and ears of the people, to expose corruption, fraud, waste and abuse where it is found.
I can’t help but noting that once more, there’s a theme of “a new secular religion” that keeps popping up again and again. Why, it’s almost as if there’s a feeling that there’s some strange sort of void that must needs be filled!