The recent investigative report on the Acorn “coverage”, by two professors of journalism, exemplifies the kind of reporting Jefferson thought essential to our Democratic Republic.

“The pattern we discovered in the 2007-2008 coverage of ACORN resembled the formula that we observed in the flow of news coverage about the hidden camera story.

We found that conservative “opinion entrepreneurs” – primarily business and conservative groups and individuals – set the story in motion, the conservative media (e.g., Fox News, conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and his many local counterparts, conservative magazines like the National Review, the Washington Times, the Washington Enquirer, and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal) heighten the sense of urgency with an unwarranted amount of coverage, and the mainstream media report the same allegations with largely the same conservative frames, usually without investigating their veracity.

Despite ACORN’s diverse community organizing work in cities across the country, in 2007-2008, 55% of the stories about the organization dealt with voter fraud. (In the month before the election, during October 2008, the frame intensified; 76 percent of the ACORN stories focused on allegations of voter fraud.)”

Clearly this group Acorn has committed the cardinal sin of helping the poor and downtrodden and must be crushed at all costs.

I hope Editor & Publisher and their ilk aren’t shoved out by the ratings seeking media entertainment complex, who more than anything else has served to dumb down our national discourse and cover up for the powers that be.