It’s a sad state of affairs, but the facts are undeniable… we no longer have a ‘Fourth Estate’ in this country… instead it has morphed into a subversive, secretive Fifth Column.

The statue of Edmund Burke in Washington DC

The term ‘Fourth Estate’ is used to refer to the press, a term attributed to Edmund Burke, an 18th century Irish statesman. Journalism has generally had a favorable reputation in this country until recently, deservedly or not.

Actually, a close look at the history of journalism in this country will reveal a picture of contentious partisanship and political bias. The print media always had huge impact on public opinion in this country, starting with colonial ‘handbills’ posted in public places, denouncing King George and his tax collectors.

With the advent of the linotype machine, print journalism was revolutionized and multiple-paged newspapers became common. With the introduction of news wires, information would flash from coast to coast in minutes.

Most journalists, from the late nineteenth century onward, prided themselves in their objectivity. This was especially true during the war years of the last century, although during World War Two news was censored to prevent vital information reaching enemy ears. There were just certain things you were not permitted to write about and most people understood the necessity of it.

During the Korean War, television journalism was in its infancy and reporting out of Korea was sporadic and sketchy. There was no network news and local television reporting was decidedly primitive by today’s standards. All of this had changed by the time we were engaged in the war in south-east Asia. The press gradually drifted from reporting the news to trying to influence opinion back home by coloring the information coming out of Vietnam and, in many cases, outright lying. Many Vietnam vets still feel that it was the press that lost the war for us. Notably, after the US forces withdrawal, North Vietnamese Commanding General Vo Nguyen Giap admitted that, after the Tet Offensive, his forces were on the ropes.

As an aspiring journalism student, I was to experience the leftward lurch of journalism instruction in college. Being a Marine veteran my views (and a penchant for investigative reporting on matters that made the school administration uncomfortable) often clashed with my leftist professors. That period, to me, was the beginning of the real decline of any semblance of objective reporting.

What we have today is something far more sinister. The term ‘fifth column’ was coined to denote a subversive element working to undermine a legitimate government. The so-called mainstream media of today is as far left as any subversive group has ever been. That their chosen weapon is the spoken word and not bombs means little, just as there is little to no objective truth in the Marxist garbage they spew at the command of their radical Marxist masters.

The silver lining here is that the internet has spawned the nemesis of the DeMarxist lapdog media. The new media has the DeMarxists and their servants in a quandary. They can scarcely open their lying mouths anymore without the truth being almost instantaneously disseminated around the globe. It’s made it very difficult to do business as usual… witness the plunging polling numbers across the board for Barack Hussein Obama and the cabal of Demarxist thieves.
Americans are getting the truth and the truth is going to set them free.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010