I'm a Piker

I have little respect for the military knowledge of about 99% of the reporters who are assigned to cover the war. They think anything big and green is a "tank" and beyond that they are clueless. Nor do they seem to care enough to learn more. They've certainly had time to learn since the Afghan campaign commenced four years ago, yet in their circles ignorance of the military may very well be a badge of honor. You'd never see somebody covering sports or arts with similar ignorance so unconcerned about learning about their beats.

And though I despair of actually getting good information from our press, my criticisms of the press cannot approach Tony Blankley's opinion:

One doesn't mind, so much, mainstream journalists being b-st-rds. It's being such dumb b-st-rds that one finds so irksome.

The media's collective yawn over the President's recent speech on the war and the decision to basically ignore it prompted this conclusion.

But really, it could have been written at any time in the last thirty years. All I ask of our press is to report on what is happening, who is doing it, when it happened, where it happened, and why if they think they have the understanding to convey that. I'll make up my mind what to think about that information. But somewhere along the way, reporting the facts became beneath our press and they now filter what they present to shape the message. Or work up anger to show they care. I don't care if they care. I don't want to know their opinions--unless they are clearly opinion pieces. I just want to know what is happening in some corner of the world that I can't see.

Is that too much to ask?