In 1980, a book called “The Spike” was co-authored by Arnaud de Borchgrave and Robert Moss. The novel showed how the news could be slanted or distorted by placement in a newspaper. The storyline had the Russian KGB infiltrating newspaper and magazine editorial offices to bury information they were opposed to being exposed. The original “Spike” was a device, shown at left, which was on the desk of the city editor of a pre-computer age newspaper. If a story came in from a reporter which was unacceptable to the political leaning of the paper, it was placed “on the spike” and not used in that day’s edition. Then, days later, it might be inserted, but buried way back in the paper, reducing it’s importance to the reader. Or, it might not be used at all. If we fast forward to the present day, it is my contention that this is exactly what the mass media is doing, especially with reference to political issues or breaking news. A given story might receive extensive coverage by Fox News, for example, but little or none by ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN. By not impartially covering the news, they fail in their duty to the public. There is a place for editorial opinion in the media. It is on the “Op-Ed” pages of newspapers and magazines and on clearly stated opinion segments of broadcast news. In the United States, the media is often called the fourth branch of government (or “fourth estate”). That’s because it supposedly monitors the political process in order to ensure that political players don’t abuse the democratic process. When the media instead becomes just another arm of a particular political party, we move towards becoming  another “Banana Republic” or dictatorship. That is a very slippery slope which I hope we can avoid at all costs.