One of the important items that have been somehow overlooked when we talk about freedoms and the complacency of the mainstream media is the First Amendment. Now that Plamegate fever has died down a bit I think I can slip in a word edgewise.
As I'm sure most of us know, the First Amendment guarantees that the government will not pass a law, "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Recently, this has been used to argue that the Press (notice the capital P) has freedom from obligations that regular citizens do not. This is patently ridiculous. What the amendment says is that all citizens are free to say or to write what we wish. The word press did not and does not refer to some institution or only to people that work at a newspaper.
While extra protection may be due to members of the media because of their prominence, we cannot allow corporations to usurp the rights of the individual. Especially given that there are longstanding laws that do restrict the freedom of speech--slander and libel for example--members of the media should have that same obligation to the truth.