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I think this sort of off-hand dismissal of the media is both incorrect and, when widespread, dangerous. The media has many specific failings. Yes, one particular failing is the media's willingness to give time to loudmouth morons like Moore and Coulter. But there are far more important flaws in the media that we should be focusing on. There are very serious journalistic questions, such as how the media should treat anonymous sources from now on. There is a massive debate raging over this; in recent years, many Bush administration officials ask for anonymity even when speaking to an audience of reporters, and many journalists (Judith Miller, most prominently) have been defending their right to protect sources who fed them bad information for strictly political purposes. (If you want to know more about this, go to slate.com and search for "anonymice.")
Or we can discuss the abomination that is all cable TV news. Or the fear that the mainstream media showed after 9/11, when it wouldn't ever criticize the Bush administration. Or we could discuss the media's habit of simply acting as mouthpiece for members on each of two sides of an argument, and failing to question either side's information. Or we could discuss talk radio, which is worse than cable TV news. Or we could discuss the role of blogs. Or we could discuss the Bush administration's punitive actions taken on White House reporters who are "too critical." Or we could discuss the way that the mainstream media, in its laziness, accepts the spin provided by the Republicans or Democrats, whichever make their case first.
The point is, there are lots of sub-topics and specific issues we can discuss. Throwing up our hands in disgust, declaring the whole situation an unintelligable, incorrigable mess simply allows the problems to fester. Let's be part of the solution; this wholesale disdain for the media is part of the problem.
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