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The premise behind the First Amendment as it applies to the press--that a vigilant watchdog is necessary, sufficient--indeed, possible--to protect against man's basest instincts--is tautologically flawed: The fox guarding the White House, if you will.

IN A 'PINCH': RETHINKING THE FIRST AMENDMENT
(Which came first, the 'journalist' or the traitor?)
by Mia T, 6.27.06

... or as that fierce defender of a free press, H. L. Mencken, perhaps inadvertently put it, "It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place."

The premise behind the First Amendment as it applies to the press--that a vigilant watchdog is necessary, sufficient--indeed, possible--to protect against man's basest instincts--is tautologically flawed: The fox guarding the White House, if you will.: IN A 'PINCH': RETHINKING THE FIRST AMENDMENT
(Which came first, the 'journalist' or the traitor?)
by Mia T, 6.27.06

Why shouldn't the following Menckeniana apply, as well, to the fourth--and arguably the most potent--branch of government, aka 'The Press'??!

"The aims of all governments, whatever their names or forms, are precisely the same, at all times and everywhere.

The first and foremost of them is simply to maintain the men constituting the government in their positions of power, that they may live gloriously at the expense of the people they govern, and enjoy all the honors and usufructs that go therewith.

There may be other purposes in them from time to time, but those purposes are transient, and most of them are insincere…

The natural tendency of every government is to grow steadily worse -- that is, to grow more satisfactory to those who constitute it and less satisfactory to those who support it."
["What Constitutes a State?," American Mercury, August 1927]

"In any dispute between a citizen and the government, it is my instinct to side with the citizen.

I am against bureaucrats, policemen, wowsers, snouters, smellers, uplifters, lawyers, bishops and all other sworn enemies of the free man. I am against all efforts to make men virtuous by law.

I believe that the government, practically considered, is simply a camorra of incompetent and mainly dishonest men, transiently licensed to live by the labor of the rest of us.

I am thus in favor of limiting its powers as much as possible, even at the cost of considerable inconvenience, and of giving every citizen, wise or foolish, right or wrong, the right to criticize it freely, and to advocate changes in its constitution and personnel…the very commonest of common men has certain inalienable rights."
["Autopsy," American Mercury, September 1927]