Is there a war on journalism ???

Jeremy Scahill says there is a war on journalism:

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/5/there_is_a_war_on_journalism

And Glenn Greenwald says his new venture will empower adversarial journalism to hold the powerful accountable:

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/10/28/glenn_greenwald_media_venture_will_empower

Are we really going to believe that a billionaire is promoting a venture which will "empower adversarial journalism to hold the powerful accountable"?

My prediction is that the rich themselves are "deeply offended" that governments are spying on THEM. They don't give a shit about US because they (the rich) are spying on us too, all the time.

This new venture that Scahill, Greenwald, and Poitras are planning is very likely to be co-opted by the agenda of the wealthy; it will attack sovereign governments but not the ruling class itself; and it will in no way be what a reasonable person would expect a "free press" to be.

Bloggers are the new free press. Unfortunately for all of us, they (the bloggers) do not usually have the means to properly vet their stories. Governments have the ability to steal data they do not own, and corporations appropriate or buy at little cost data they also do not own. Citizens (including bloggers) usually can't steal or buy such data, and those who do steal it are caught and thrown in jail (or pressured to kill themselves).

Bottom line ... you cannot properly vet stories unless you are one of the powerful people whom a free press is supposed to be holding accountable. It would be a miracle comparable to the Second Coming if one of these powerful people actually attacked his peers for the benefit of the common people. If he did, he would be "disappeared", one way or another.

Arthur Silber is right.