The press doesn't represent the public

It used to be the press reported the "news"; someone got shot or something blew up.

Somewhere along the line things changed and the press decided it could think for the public. The press decide on which facts you get to see and who you should listen to. A lot of the "public" got fed up with this and with the advent of the internet the public started "blogging".

Well it seems one person in particular has had enough of the "misrepresenting press".

From Jay Rosen via Instapundit

"... Auletta, for example, can describe Bush at a barbeque for the press in August, where a reporter says to the president: is it really true you don't read us, don't even watch the news? Bush confirms it.

And the reporter then said: Well, how do you then know, Mr. President, what the public is thinking? And Bush, without missing a beat said: You're making a powerful assumption, young man. You're assuming that you represent the public. I don't accept that.

Which is a powerful statement. And if Bush believes it (a possibility not to be dismissed) then we must credit the president with an original idea, or the germ of one. Bush's people have developed it into a thesis, which they explained to Auletta, who told it to co-host Brooke Gladstone:

That's his attitude. And when you ask the Bush people to explain that attitude, what they say is: We don't accept that you have a check and balance function. We think that you are in the game of "Gotcha." Oh, you're interested in headlines, and you're interested in conflict. You're not interested in having a serious discussion and, and exploring things."