A picture PLUS a thousand words — Michael Ramirez vents his spleen against a disgraceful media

We all know Michael Ramirez as one of the most talented editorial cartoonists ever.  (And no, I’m not exaggerating when I say that.)  I happen to know from going to a luncheon at which he was the guest that he is also a delightful speaker.

Now we all get to learn that he can write too.  In the face of a media that is so one-sided that it is becoming destructive of our nation’s integrity, Ramirez has gone beyond his visual approach to getting a point across and set pen to paper (or I guess I mean fingers to keyboard).  The result is a scathing indictment of a media that has become every bit as corrupt as Pravda — only it’s actually worse than Pravda, because Pravda writers were state employees and always had the threat of Siberia hanging over them.  Our modern media’s corruption is something it gleefully embraces, a thought that ought to make all Americans feel somewhat ill:

As White House reporter for ABC News Jake Tapper recently commented, “The media is failing the country.”

I agree.

A July 16 Rasmussen poll revealed “59% of likely U.S. voters believe Obama has received the best treatment from the media so far” and “51% expect most reporters to help Obama.” Only 9% expect the media to help Romney.

The media should, at bare minimum, be expected to reveal the truth. But it won’t even do that.

Still the media focus nonstop on unsubstantiated reports about Mitt Romney’s tax returns — not on anything substantial.

MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin, when asked about Mitt Romney’s tax returns on the Today Show, said, “The press still likes this story a lot.”

He added, “The media are very susceptible to doing what the Obama campaign wants, which is to focus on this.”

The fact the media are susceptible to do what any campaign wants is disturbing enough.

But the way the media focus relentlessly on gaffes and ignores substantive issues when covering one side, while ignoring gaffes and issues critical of the other side, does serious damage to the integrity of news reporting.

Read the whole thing here (and enjoy the cartoon that goes with it).