Media ethics and the law in real life, as Frank Rich reminds us that during the last all Republican government, we got Watergate. I am showing "All the President's Men" to my Introduction to Mass Media class, and the echoes of an era where the 4th Estate was slow to pick up on the critical issues are getting louder.

Today you can't tell the phonies without a scorecard. Besides the six "journalists" we know to have been paid by the administration or its backers, bloggers were on the campaign payrolls of both a Republican office-seeker (South Dakota's Senator John Thune) and a Democrat (Howard Dean) during last year's campaign. This week The Los Angeles Times reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, "taking a cue from President Bush's administration," had distributed fake news videos starring a former TV reporter to extol the governor's slant on a legislative proposal. Back in Washington, the Social Security Administration is refusing to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for information about its use of public relations firms - such as those that funneled taxpayers' money to the likes of Armstrong Williams. Don't expect news organizations dedicated to easy-listening news to get to the bottom of it.

The New York Times > Arts > Frank Rich: Gonzo Gone, Rather Going, Watergate Still Here Here is a Christian Science Monitor story about the Miller/Plame Case story where the law seems to be going further awry and depriving journalists of more than their 1st Amendment Rights. The "secret evidence" stuff just gives me chills and make me think of Arthur Miller's other important play, The Crucible, and Torquemada.