Your organization was founded to promote press freedom and defend the right of the journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.

Today, the biggest threat to journalists in America is the American corporate apparatus and also, the United States government. The US corporate establishment has converted American journalists into prostitutes* who, for the sake of the next promotion or raise, but most likely out of fear of loss of their jobs and livelihood have to self-censor and/or present the facts in such a distorted way to please their corporate management. Responsible journalists who remain true to their ideals, such as Gary Web (formerly with San Jose Mercury News), as well as many other dedicated reporters are forced out of office or cast to the sidelines.

A shining example of such distortions is the American corporate media's orchestration and presentation of the Iraq war which continues unchanged until today. Despite whispers or admissions here and there that the press did not cover the war in an objective way or did not ask the right questions, corporate journalism's distortions continue unabated. The fact of the matter is, such admissions are mostly meant to save the by-now tarnished reputation of America's corporate media, so it can continue presenting its tainted version of the reality for a while longer.

Journalists in other countries have to rely on American news services for obvious reasons. In many third-world countries, not only do the journalists have to constantly deal with threats presented by their own autocratic governments, they would also have to deal with distortions and biased reporting of western (really American) news services.

As with the Iraq war, the US corporate media is today laying the grounds for a US war with Iran, accused by unnamed or dubious American officials of "threatening global peace" through uranium conversion which Iran is claiming to be for "peaceful generation of electricity". Regardless of the truth or falsity of Iran's claims, only the American corporate media can be so outlandish and subservient to claim that a third-world country can be threatening - not regional - but global peace, and that of course is nothing but a coded warning to Americans that Iranians are waiting around every corner to swallow their babies.

Dear friends, for reasons mentioned, the US corporate media have created an environment quite unhealthy and outright hazardous to the well-being of American and world journalism and journalists. Under the present circumstances, we believe it is critical to expose this institution, and we urge you to do the same.