National Public Radio recently reported Chicago Tribune Company Chief Executive Officer Sam Zell's harsh criticism of the chain's Washington news bureau for being unprofitable and covering Iraq too much.

This while the New York Times was reporting that retired military officers with close ties to the Pentagon and defense contractors are making network news appearances as supposed "independent" analysts.

British journalist Nick Davies offers a possible connection between the two stories. In his new book "Flat Earth News," he argues that corporate media ownership has fundamentally undermined journalism.

For example, editorial staff reductions coupled with increased demand for copy and reduced time for finding and checking stories, dubbed "churnalism."

Davies says this trend tends to reduce reporters to a passive role, recycling wire service copy and public relations material, often without really checking it.

In that context, he says, it becomes much easier for intelligence agencies, government press officers, and others to manipulate news coverage to serve their political interests.

Davies sees a direct link between downsized newsrooms and misreporting of major stories, such as weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Hence the book title "Flat Earth News" - stories the public thinks are true when in fact they are as false as a flat earth.

Profit centers or not, we need more and better news coverage of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not less. In addition, further reductions in the ranks of professional journalists make causes related to open government all the more important now

Mark A. Hart is statewide organizer for the Florida Media Coalition, a pro-media advocacy group based in Tampa.

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