Press: New Watchdog on Duty

This June," the promos blare, "the media's free ride comes to a screeching halt." That pitch can be seen on buses rolling down the streets of New York City, but it's not exactly a line to stop traffic. Didn't the media's free ride end years ago? Haven't we all grown used to the cycle in which every big news story, from Princess Diana to Bill and Monica, is followed by the inevitable how-the-media-screwed-up mea culpas?

But that, for Steve Brill, is just the point. "There's more frustration and confusion and cynicism about the media than ever before," he says--and he's counting...