There was a day when the mass media tracked every mistake a president made. The New York Times was held like a Bible, to be combed over every morning as it listed details about the Bush White House and it’s alleged corruption.

That day appears to have ended on January 20th.

No longer is the press scrambling over itself to be the first to report on some mistake, folly or outright lie. Instead, the news organizations are laying on their collective backs, eager for their daily belly rub from the new administration.

If not for the Internet, even more people would be left in the dark about Obama’s going ons.

Some news organizations chose not to mention the president claiming that his stimulus bill, if passed, would help the company to hire previously laid off workers. Well, the stimulus bill passed, but Caterpillar did not re-hire any workers. In fact, it let go of another 2,500.

This is probably a mistake by the Obama administration who obviously knows more about public relations and speaking than business or the economy, but what if it is not? Newspapers need to put the full court press on the new administration so it does not end up like the last.

Why stop questioning the government just because a new person is sleeping in the White House?

The newspapers need to stop playing nice and start playing some hard ball. There are questions that need to be answered.

We are getting hoodwinked.

Just because Obama stops using the term “enemy combatants” does not change the fact that people are kept in U.S. prisons around the world with no habeas corpus.

Sending troops from Iraq to Afghanistan just to send more from the United States to Iraq is not ending the war – it is a damned PR move that should be making headlines instead of being ignored.

There are already so many broken campaign promises done by the new administration: enacting cap and trade policies, provoking violence by bombing Pakistan, voting for the second Patriot Act.

It honestly makes me sick.

Instead of being the watchdog, the media in this country have become the White House’s lapdog. The media beast feeds off press releases like table scraps, barely questioning the information they’re given; they just rewrite the tricks and pass it off as news.

How much longer do we have to wait before one of them finally stands up?

At this rate Obama will be well into his second term by the time the media decide to get off their collective asses and do their job. For now, they are going to sit on their haunches and lick their chops. Every once in awhile, a dog might deserve a swift kick to get it to do something.

Hopefully the blow comes to the media sooner than later.

Ted Hamilton is senior magazine journalism major a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected]