Civil Society/Media/Theme

 There is a perception in American life that is now starting to diminish that the media are and ought to be nonpartisan objective arbiters of truth. Philadelphia's papers have, since their very beginning, been a hotbed of partisan thought, vitriol and invective, and sometimes even of open hostility. As major corporations have slowly bought out local stations and corporate talking points have begun to leach into the copy read by local anchors, that perception has been fading into the fond remembrance of history. Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite are both dead and buried, their legacies having faded into fairytales. Oh, the media can still influence perception. That's still the case. It's simply that the influence it exerts is now bought and paid for by corporate interests. Only a few bastions of truth remain out there, and they are under constant attack by those who view every issue as having two sides: the one they want told, and the one you won't tell.

 Everyone is in on it. Politicians of all parties, government officials, the police, society figures; all of them use the media to get their viewpoints out there, and all of them know that the right amount of money can make it so that view is never questioned when presented. There are still decent people in the business, and decent publications and organizations fighting the good fight.

 Which side are you on?