Meanwhile, our journalistic community has abdicated its responsibility to bring ALL the news to citizens. How can anybody respect this? The reason that nobody has foreign bureaus in the Mouthpiece Media anymore is because we "'Murricans" don't care about anything outside the city/community we inhabit anymore --- and very little there either.

Our news is no longer mediated, it is filtered to the point of inanity!

Britney Spears get more ink and on-line screentime than Israeli Prime Minister (fading) Barak.

And that's probably why the war in Chechnya is not a story.

It will only become a story if there is more misery and death. Not just in Moscow and Chechnya but elsewhere in the world, possibly involving Americans. And that's a sad commentary on how "news" is reported these days.

The best way to change that is not only for those of us who get paid to report the news taking more responsibility for expanding the perspective of our readers/viewers/surfers, BUT ALSO for those of you receiving our services to demand more of us.

I know it's easier to complain about the (poor) job we in journalism are doing than to take that next step --- rewarding the outlets that meet your needs and shunning those that don't attempt to raise the bar. But you need to do just that.

Otherwise you accept this slippery slope where the quality of the information provided you is cheapened, where propaganda and infotainment rule, and celebrity gossip becomes more important than genuine information of civic and social value.

The choice is yours.