One thing that has been annoying me all week is the way the MSM has been willing to sit back and wait for news rather than investigating and reporting it.
For instance, three of the five major TV outlets would not call Ohio until they received permission to do so from the Kerry campaign. The remaining two would not call any additional state until they received permission, and would not have called Ohio except the call from the Kerry campaign telling them to stop arrived too late. NBC's News Director was in the bathroom when the call came, and his flunkies were too scared to knock on the door.
This story about Arafat is more of the same. It would not be a difficult thing to determine if Arafat is alive or dead. But he will not be reported dead until somebody says so in a news conference. This is ridiculous. There is an important fact out there that could be found with five minutes worth of work, and nobody is going to bother to do the job, because nobody wants to offend anybody.
We need more yellow journalism. We need more muckrakers.
Yes - Jack Anderson was called a muck-raker.. the best in the business. I believe he was Brit Hume's mentor.