“I don’t think he’s funny. And I know he’s uninformed,” blasted an angry Robert Novak in his slurred, drunken-old-man voice. He was responding to the now widely talked about Crossfire appearance by Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Stewart set the tone for the discussion early in the show when he said of the debate show, “It’s not so much that it’s bad, as it’s hurting America.” He went on to use his time to criticize Crossfire and the media in general. Said Stewart, “I’m here to confront you, because we need help from the media and they’re hurting us.” A full video of the Stewart’s appearance can be viewed here.

Stewart’s controversial appearance could not have come at a more perfect time. Now more than ever it is clear that our media have failed us.

Sinclair Broadcasting recently ordered 62 stations to air the anti-Kerry film Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal two weeks before the election. The film revisits the claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Their Own Bloated Egos, criticizing Kerry’s actions after returning from Vietnam. Sinclair Broadcasting is the same company that in April, in another act of cowardly partisanship, made the decision to preempt Nightline’s airing of “The Fallen,” in which host Ted Koppel read the names of the American soldiers who had died in Iraq. At the time Sinclair justified their decision by saying, “We believe [’Nightline’ anchor Ted Koppel’s] motivation is to focus attention solely on people who have died in the war in order to push public opinion toward the United States getting out of Iraq.” They added, “Without any context and any discussion of why we’re there and why these lives are being sacrificed, it will unduly influence people” But now that Sinclair has taken their partisanship to the next level, they seem much less concerned with “unduly influencing people.” Now they say, “This is definitely a newsworthy event. These Vietnam prisoners of war suffered horrific abuse and unspeakable torture for many years. Most of them maintained silence for 31 years and felt a need to respond to claims made by John Kerry.”

Even though this “newsworthy event” has already received more airtime than it ever actually deserved, and even though the makers of the film are now being charged with libel, Sinclair is committed to airing it. And the FCC is fine with that. According to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, “Don’t look to us to block the airing of a program. I don’t know of any precedent in which the commission could do that.” Well Michael, let me help you out. The Federal Communications Commission was originally established in 1934. The reason for its existence is to protect the public interest because the airwaves belong to the people. This is why the FCC broke up NBC in 1940. This is exactly the sort of thing that the FCC was made for, not crucifying Janet Jackson because people saw her breast during the Super Bowl.

To borrow a phrase from Fahrenheit 9/11, can you imagine in the days before the election Sinclair Broadcasting ordering 62 stations to air Moore’s film? What do you think would have happened to Sinclair if that had happened?

Speaking of Michael Moore, a plan by In Demand to air a Fahrenheit 9/11 special the night before the election has been canceled. So while Stolen Honor gets free airtime on channels that are supposed to be giving equal airtime to both candidates, Fahrenheit 9/11 can’t even be shown on pay-per-view.

And these are only the latest offenses. Throughout this campaign your media has failed you. They have failed to really look at the issues. While prisoners, some of them children, are being tortured in Abu Ghraib, they have been focused on whether Kerry threw medals or ribbons thirty years ago. The media today is so afraid of appearing biased that rather than reporting the truth, they have become nothing more than a podium from which politicians can parrot their talking points. After all, reporting the truth might offend somebody.

As Jon Stewart said, “You’re part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.”

An informed public is crucial to the survival of a democratic system. This is the duty of all journalists. And they have simply not been doing that. Thus, they are just as much to blame as anybody else for the current situation.

And this will only continue until we as a people begin demanding the kind of service we are entitled to. The airwaves belong to us. It is time for us to stop allowing bullies like Sinclair and Murdoch to decide what we should or should not be allowed to see. We need to let the news organizations know that they work for us and take back the media for the American people.