Am I the only one sick of hearing about the "liberal media" or the "corporate-owned" media? Well, you can't have it both ways, folks.

Either the media is "liberal", with a slant to all those bleeding heart commies out there, or it's a massive corporate monolith, owned by three rich white guys who crush any viewpoint other than their own. Well?

How about this: The "media" is not a uniform, monolith anything. It's the most massive, diverse collection of independent voices ever seen in the history of humankind. If you're reading this, you have access to literally tens of thousands of news outlets from around the world: professional news sites, amateur news sites, blogs, etc. You have access to probably half a dozen, if not more, television media outlets, and there are thousands of newspapers who put most of their content on-line for free. There are probably also half a dozen radio news sources where you live, with contrasting editorial content.

And among this ocean of news, there are extremes of all sizes and shapes, and damn near anything in between.

As an aside, last week I heard a story on NPR about the last Western journalist expelled from Zimbabwe. He was picked up, held in the basement of the airport for hours, then put on a plane. He thought that he would likely be taken to a remote building somewhere and tortured, just as many journalists who printed stuff Mugabe's administration didn't like were, from beatings to electric shock of the genitals. In my estimation, most Westerners take for granted our free press. They actually roll their eyes if you suggest that our media supports a wide range of editorial content, as well as a large amount of very fine reporting.

So before you start talking about the Media, with a capital "M", stop for a second and think about what you're really saying. The fact is, generalizations of viewpoint regarding the media available to the average American are simply and utterly stupid.