The point, my pedigree chums

Leftist tabloid HuffPo is predictably outraged over today's NYTimes piece on Zoriah Miller, the freelance photographer who was barred from photographing Marines after posting pictures of slain soldiers on his website.

While we're as frustrated as anyone over the obstacles placed in front of journalists attempting to cover the two wars in which this country is currently involved, bitching about the Corps' aggressive and demeaning treatment of Miller, or about flag-draped coffins at Dover five years after the fact, only obscures two very important issues raised by this very same Times piece...

Take this paragraph, buried midway into the piece:

News organizations say that such restrictions are one factor in declining coverage of the war, along with the danger, the high cost to financially ailing media outlets and diminished interest among Americans in following the war. By a recent count, only half a dozen Western photographers were covering a war in which 150,000 American troops are engaged.

In other words, while the military has pushed back at the press, usually couching the censorship in terms of safeguarding security or protecting grief-stricken military families, the press obliges for largely economic reasons. If cash-strapped media outlets -- these are for-profit entities tailoring product (news) to consumer (citizen) -- can't afford to cover the war as extensively as they might like, odds are they are compelled by dwindling public interest.

So go on, HuffPo. Strap on the righteous indignation pants and blame the military while giving news conglomerates and the citizenry a pass. After all, you've got this great picture of Arlington sitting around and nothing of consequence to say. It sure saves you the trouble of thinking too hard and, boy, does it ever fit the fucking boilerplate.

And of course you can finish that latest Miley Cyrus post first.