The Second Time This Has Happened

Well, apparently, America, or, more properly, Aristocratic Republics (what you folks call Representative Democracies) have a weakness to a sustained assault by what passes for news actually being a partisan, ratings-seeking effort to control the process. First it happened with Hearst, now with Murdoch. IF a population which elects its own representatives is

dependent on the media for its news (especially in the case of foreign policy)

with a variety of news sources

TV is easy

Can't be used as a reference w/o Lexis/Nexis, a fee service

THEN we get bullshit wars started on false pretenses. In both the current case and the Spanish-American war, the war was pre-ordained. The press was pushed? in either case? in both? to do their job with the greatest alacrity, to exploit every possible idea to damn the enemy, untried. Although it is debatable that Hearst ever uttered the precise words "You provide the pictures, I'll provide the war," there is little doubt how Hearst felt about the war, nor is there any secret about how Rupert Murdoch feels about this Iraq War. Is there? Now, the question: What can, if anything, be done about this? The FCC failed, did it fail because it was gutted by the President's nepotistic appointment of a kid to the Chairmanship? Was it gutted because Bush wanted the war? In either event, the FCC failed. Or prove that all solutions are flawed, except eternal vigilance, which apparently has already failed America twice. Is it possible that the media's central role in information exchange makes it invulnerable to sustained or transformative critique, and that fact makes it the ultimate weapon in a Republic?