Andrew Stroehlein at Poynter.org asks, May We Have Independent Journalism Back Now, Please? [via sotd] An interesting quote: "CNN Chairman Walter Isaacson sent a memo to his staff asking them to downplay Afghan civilian casualties, saying it was 'perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan' and demanding that when viewers see civilian suffering in Afghanistan, 'it's in the context of a terrorist attack that caused enormous suffering in the United States.' That is, take sides and bury bad news." This obviously shows that CNN feels it has to "dumb it down" for their audience, but I don't recall seeing any reports of civilian casualties or any estimates of the number killed in Afghanistan...on any newscast or in any publication. Is it unpatriotic or perverse to know what exactly happened over there?