Mr Bush and the Media

There are 2 stories today that I want to mention concerning Mr Bush and the media.

The Independent gives us Here is the news... from President Bush

An abstract of the same story can be viewed via The New York Times on the Web
(You need to register to see this one. It will link to the abstract if you do. I did. You also need to pay to see the full story. I didn't.)

This seems like a very New Labour type of story. The Bush administration is using tax payers money to produce "news reports" which some US TV companies have been running uncritically as news without presenting an alternative opinion. The administration has even written scripts which newsreaders can use to introduce the reports. What a brilliant example of US democracy in action. When does the Blair government start doing this over here?

The second story comes from Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post and concerns Fox News.
It is An Opinionated Network
(You need to resister to see this one too. I did. You don't need to pay anything for the full story. 1-0 to the Washington Post I think.)

I don't suppose this really qualifies as news. "Extra! Extra! Fox in biased news reporting! Read all about it!" No, I don't think this is news but it is an illuminating article all the same. A study has found that 73% of stories about Iraq on Fox News last year contained the opinions of the newsreader or reporter. That compares to 2% for CNN.

I just can't think of a polite way to phrase my opinions about these stories. In the real world I swear. In fact I probably swear too much (well I am Scottish, it's a national tradition). In the world of blog I've made the decision never to swear. I'll just have to leave the reader to draw their own conclusions.