Eric Bohlert, writing in Salon, argues the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has an agenda to sabotage the press's coverage of government -- and that it has willing co-conspirators in organizations like Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting.

An excerpt (Deborah Jones posted this to CAJ-L, which is where I saw it):

March 2, 2005  |  For the last four years the persistent storyline about the White House's relationship with the press has focused on the administration's discipline, denial of access, and ability to stay on message. The Bush administration, according to this account, is expert at managing information, using secrecy, carrots and sticks and carefully-crafted talking points to control the news.

But in the wake of revelations about the aggressive and unprecedented tactics employed by the White House, that relatively benign interpretation is being reexamined. Recent headlines about paid-off pundits, video press releases disguised as news telecasts, and the remarkable press access granted to a right-wing pseudo-journalist working under a phony name, have led many observers to conclude that the White House is not simply aggressively managing the news, but is out to sabotage journalism from within, to undermine the integrity and reputation of the press corps. The White House and its media allies, echoing a deep-rooted conservative antagonism toward the so-called liberal media, say they are simply countering its bias. But critics charge that the White House, along with partners like Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, organizations whose allegiance to the Republican Party outweighs their commitment to journalism, is actually trying to weaken the press. Its motivation, they say, is twofold. Weakening the press weakens an institution that's structurally an adversary of the White House. And it eliminates agreed-upon facts, the commonly accepted information that is central to public debate.