Evidently, the freedoms we take for granted in the U.S. are a little too much according to the students here. 36% of students think newsrooms should get approval from the GOVERNMENT before running a story. The utter helplessness and sorrow I feel when I read something like this is undescribable.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get “government approval” of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys “too much freedom,” not enough or about the right amount, 32% say “too much,” and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

Either the teachers really suck at teaching the ideas this country was founded on or they surveyed students from the School of the Americas. This article comes to me a day after watching OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, which is a movie about Fox News and the dangerous game it’s playing with today’s media outlets.

The press is the watchdog of Democracy. They are supposed to be trusthworthy and unbiased. They are supposed to report the news as it happens and not get approval from anyone. The corporate buyout of today’s media outlets and the current consolidation efforts underway will be a bigger part of America’s downfall as a free society than Bush, Cheney or Rove ever will.

If we can’t trust the media to keep leaders in check by reporting blow jobs, illegal arms deals and hotel break-ins then who can we trust? What if those who are reporting the news are best friends with those they are reporting the news on? If your friend did something bad and you had to tell some strangers about it wouldn’t you do all you could to justify your friend’s actions?