Who's Watching The Hen House?

While the talking heads have been jockeying for the "I was Russert's best friend ever" title, they have given us a ringside seat to see their nepotism in action. There were far too many examples to include here, but I'll use this one as a case in point. Campbell Brown from CNN, who in an attempt to illustrate what a good guy Tim Russert was, told us that when her son was born she received a handwritten note from Russert (her old boss at NBC) in which he promised her son a job when he grew up. This is a blatant example of the "old boy network". I find this quite chilling. We have laws against media consolidation, because of the inherent dangers of the media being monopolized, but surely this is a variation on that theme. Everybody's nephew, sister, brother -- whatever, "you can get a job here as long as you don't make waves!"

Then of course, we were subjected to the politicians who couldn't wait to get their condolences on the air, to express what a stand-up guy Russert was and how they attended many of the same parties and social engagements. Are you kidding me! Who is watching the hen house? We have cronyism in politics, because no one is watching them. The media can't criticize a practice they invented. We need a revolution I tell you!