Eaves: Stepping back one step further, might it also be fair to say that the news (including electronic and print media), as it exists now, is very different from the news in the 1960s, 1970s and even into the 1980s? Meaning, we now see more of a tabloid-style journalism, versus the more thoughtful reportage in times past. Further, true investigative journalism, in the style of Woodward and Bernstein, is largely dead. Even amongst those papers that can afford to do it, like the NYT and WashPost, it isn’t nearly as prevalent as it used to be.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, in our era of soundbites, the 24/7 news cycle and “flash and trash” reporting (think TMZ), the facts have largely been lost. Add to this the dearth of true critical thinking and analysis from your average Joe (or Jane) and we find ourselves exactly where we are.

“If it bleeds, it leads”, has never been more true than the present.