Last week, Sen. John McCain yelled, "thank you, Media!" from the podium at a campaign rally in Media, Pa.
The irony is inescapable: A presidential candidate standing before an elated crowd of supporters in a Philadelphia suburb which bears the name of his No. 1 opponent.
Oh, haven't you heard? The adversary standing between McCain and the White House is no longer Sen. Barack Obama. It's not even the failing economy that McCain said is fundamentally strong, public disapproval of the war he supports or the record-setting low approval rating of the Republican who holds the office he seeks.
It's the New York Times and the rest of the liberal media that McCain must conquer in order to win the election.
During a conference call with Times reporters last week, McCain's senior strategist lashed out at the newspaper for being "completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for" Obama, muttering angrily that it had abandoned all journalistic credibility.
Though his party has been using the mainstream news media as target practice for decades -- cue Spiro Agnew, Rush Limbaugh, Bush II -- bias accusations coming from McCain can still smart.
During an election where spin eclipses the truth, the media's role as the fourth estate -- that sector within our democracy that serves as a defender of the public interest -- is as crucial as ever.
The term "fourth estate" originated in 18th century Britain, where the three traditional estates were the nobility, clergy and commoners. The press was charged with presenting issues in ways that held the other three accountable to each other.
Ernest Hemingway's more plainly put advice that reporters "develop a built-in bullshit detector" doesn't seem to resonate with the McCain spokesman who said two weeks ago that the senator was "running a campaign to win" and is "not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it."
Since when did sifting through nonsense and putting press releases into perspective become an evil act? Framing, filtering -- whatever derisive f-word you want to call it -- is vital to a functioning democracy.
Media bashing is a bipartisan affair. When public opinion slips, journalists are convenient scapegoats for struggling politicians. Remember how Sen. Hillary Clinton fumed at the media's alleged love affair with Obama during the primaries?
The media must be held accountable to the public when journalsists' responsibility to report the news accurately, fairly and aggressively is not fulfilled.
We must be critical of the condescending attitude of ABC's Charlie Gibson during his interview with Gov. Palin as well as the softball questions Fox News' Sean Hannity lobbed her way.
But journalists -- good ones anyway -- are in the business of stirring things up. Just because what the news found fit to print does not cast a rosy light on one candidate does not always signify inaccuracy and bias.
In the words of John Knight, another noted journalist: "The job of a newspaper is to print the news and raise hell." If the news media does the job right, unfit politicians and weak policies will fall out of those cages we rattle.
McCain won't lessen scrutiny on his ticket by whisking Gov. Palin out of the harsh glare of the media and keeping the press, which he once adoringly referred to as "my base," at an arm's length.
Likewise, unsolicited shots won't intimidate reporters out of covering this race thoroughly and reporting it back accurately to the electorate.
The protesters outside the rally in Media got it right when they lifted signs that read: "McCain/Palin: You can run from the press, but you can't hide from Media!"
Alyssa Owens is a senior majoring in journalism and political science and is The Daily Collegian's Thursday columnist. Her e-mail address is alo5014@psu.edu.
