Despite all its promise, the Web is rapidly becoming one big, pesky bulletin board, relieved by the occasional wacky home page created by people named either Chuck or Ed. Friends don't let friends create home pages and then insist that everyone look at it. Bill Gates' contribution of computers to public libraries is like a drug dealer pitching in at the local methadone clinic. If Luddites collected royalties every time their name was invoked in a belittling reference to anyone who expresses the slightest reservation about technology, they'd be millionaires. Now some wonder if the public's dissatisfaction with the media will become a legal threat to the media as well.
Experts also point to huge libel verdicts now given in response to media mistakes.
The American press is schooled to maintain independence and to brave criticism in the interest of the free flow of information. But too often these days we just look as if we're ignoring criticism in order to go on behaving shabbily. Communications-related Headline Service is posted Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights of news articles summarized by staff at the Benton Foundation. While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone does not represent the tone of the original articles.