Bush’s comment is interesting, and this KOS thread is interesting.

Let’s talk for a minute about the role of the press. Conservatives have essentially declared war on the established traditional press, claiming for a generation that the press is “too liberal.”

Now comes the conservative press, as a counter to the perceived biases of the so-called-liberal-media (SCLM), a conservative press perhaps best characterized by FoxNews, and worst characterized by the right wing spinwits like Limbaugh, Hannity and Coulter.

Their thesis is that the SCLM does not speak for or to the People’s interests or needs.

Their antidote for the SCLM is is propagandize and try to spin everything toward the Republican Party positions.

If you read the left-leaning news sites and blogs, however, you will find a level of criticism of the SCLM that mirrors the level of criticism of the SCLM that is levied by the right wing.

Daily Kos :: Bush to Press: “You’re Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don’t Accept That.”: “Bush to Press: ‘You’re Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don’t Accept That.’
by lawnorder
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Mon Mar 7th, 2005 at 01:34:46 PST

Straight Cut & Paste. Sorry, but I just can’t add anything to it. It’s perfect as it is…

This article is the top one in readers to date at PressThink, and I believe VERY RELEVANT to GannonGate
PressThink: Bush to Press: ‘You’re Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don’t Accept That.’

Which is a powerful statement… Bush’s people have developed it into a thesis, which they explained to Auletta, who told it to co-host Brooke Gladstone:

That’s his attitude. And when you ask the Bush people to explain that attitude, what they say is: We don’t accept that you have a check and balance function. We think that you are in the game of ‘Gotcha.’ Oh, you’re interested in headlines, and you’re interested in conflict. You’re not interested in having a serious discussion… and exploring things.

… [The headlines obssession means that] The press has forfeited, if it ever had, its quasi-official role in the checks and balances of government. Here the Bush Thesis is bold. It says: there is no such role– official or otherwise.”