Why news is news

'Israeli troops on Thursday reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
The daily Al Mustaqbal, citing sources who confirmed the cross-border penetration, did not say when the procedure in the Fahs Hill overlooking Deir al-Ashaer in the Rashaya province took place. The sources said Israeli troops, backed by bulldozers, were fortifying positions "in more than one area" along the Lebanese border, erecting earth mounds and digging "hundreds" of trenches and individual bunkers.'

Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal

Ok, ok, I'm lying. Its not Israel doing these things, its Syria. If I was right, and it was Israel, it would have been the lead story on every news bulletin from Kinshasa to Kathmandu. But its not. So it wasn't. Dull old Syria just can't grab those column inches like the tiny Satan. I would never have known about this were it not for Michael Totten and his superb blog. He didn't believe the story was true at first because no other, I repeat no other, news organisation other than this one Lebanese paper carried the story. Remember: this is the invasion of a sovereign country (just like say Belgium) by its neighbor, a neighbor which has a very bad reputation for doing exactly that. And nobody cares! The tumbleweed is drifting by, the crickets chirp, and the massed legions of AP, AFP, PA, Reuters and the big American networks carry on with their ritualised stories about evil Israeli settlers and the casualty count in Iraq.

Do you get the impression that the mainstream press agencies and big networks are a bit like the Roman Catholic church on the eve of the Reformation? Fat, bloated, corrupt, content to do the same 'ol same 'ol without passion or conviction? A corporate island in a lake of its own self-approval? Of prime importance is whether those who are the consumers of news are going to continue to buy from old media this highly processed pap, free of genuine content and largely about one political conception of the world, or whether they are going to leave and seek the goods from other sources. I don't see that happening yet, but there is a smell of revolution in the air. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future...