At a pair of British daily newspapers -- the Independent and the Guardian -- plus the Observer on Sunday, journalists are far more willing than their U.S. counterparts to repeatedly take on powerful interests. Tough questions get pursued at length and in depth. News coverage is often factually devastating. And commentaries don't mince words.
A recent essay in the Independent contended that Prime Minister Tony Blair "has, in short, proved himself a scoundrel and a hypocrite again and again and again." The column, by Matthew Norman, continued: "How he has survived at all is something for tomorrow's political historians to explain, but one thing is clear: without a press that has erred, if anything, towards over-indulging him, he'd have got clean away with the lot of it."
In other words, overall, media outlets in Britain haven't challenged Blair enough -- but if they'd challenged him less, then the situation would be even worse and Blair would have a freer hand. There's a lot of alarmed commentary about the ostensibly left-leaning Blair government's drift into authoritarian rule. Under such circumstances, in any country (nowhere more than in the USA), vigorous journalism is essential to prevent further erosion of civil liberties and other fundamental rights...
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