The Press: The Enemy Within

This is a very interesting article by Michael Massing . Well worth a read, here is an excerpt:

As Silverstein suggests, this fear of bias, and of appearing unbalanced,
acts as a powerful sedative on American journalists—one whose effect has been
magnified by the incessant attacks of conservative bloggers and radio talk-show
hosts. One reason journalists performed so poorly in the months before the Iraq
war was that there were few Democrats willing to criticize the Bush
administration on the record; without such cover, journalists feared they would
be branded as hostile to the President and labeled as "liberal" by conservative
commentators.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18555