News organizations have a close relationship with politicians and power. There are unspoken rules of what can be covered and what cannot. Those that don't adhere to the rules get ostracized, and sometimes replaced blatantly with reporters like Jeff Gannon who are there purely for throwing softballs.
Others news outlets are obviously part of the political scuffle, such as Fox News, and the op-ed writers, like Robert Novak, who meet each Wednesday with political operators and thinktanks to ensure the whole political vehicle is on message.
There is an expectation that the punk news outlets will not be 'on the drip' and Crikey has made its name selling itself in that way. (more)
Crikey reports that the British Commons voted on several measures to make the House of Lords a democratic house rather than the titled house it is now. (more)
In a crikey article Charles Richardson puzzles at the success of American democracy. Bit silly really, considering that the Washington System is a more modern and fully functional representative democracy than the Westminster form despite the US federating in 1787 and Australia in 1901. Our little mutation grafted as much of the Washington system on as we could to give the clunky old Westminster system some perception of modernity. (more)
