The Demise- Media coverage in the US has no substance, covers fluff mostly

I love Stephen Colbert. I bow to Jon Stewart's brilliance. They show our media and government for the dumbed down state of fluff we are stuck in, and the ignorance of the American people to not wake up and see it. I never considered MTP (Meet The Press) to be hard hitting news. I find Tim, a Dem to be too soft and letting his guests get away with NOT answering an important question. People think he's a right winger. Not so folks, he's just a softy lefty whom like everyone else in the media, is not doing their jobs very well. Thus we've gotten 9/11, Bush an incompetent corrupt oilman, 4000+ dead soldiers, 1000's of dead Iraqis and the hate of our peers around the world which we've deservedly earned.

Portion of an article in Media Matters:

"The press already seems to do everything it can to avoid covering campaign substance. Instead, it pursues trivia such as haircuts, and laughs, and cleavage, and parking tickets, and head movements, and marital sleeping habits, and chiseled good looks, and cats, and accents. It's clear that the allure of a saccharine story like Colbert's running gag is simply too tempting.
That's because the press has decided to cover presidential candidates as celebrities, as personalities. This media phenomenon became enshrined during the 2000 contest, when the press announced that presidential campaigns were no longer about how candidates might function as presidents; what they might actually do as commander in chief. Instead, campaigns were about personalities -- which candidate was fun to be around and which one was authentic.
The approach is thriving today. Look at the latest research findings from the campaign trail: "Just 12% of stories examined were presented in a way that explained how citizens might be affected by the election," according to Editor & Publisher magazine. "And just one percent of stories examined the candidates' records or past public performance." (The study in question is here.)"
Read the full article here at Media Matters