Journalism is the only profession explicitly protected by the U.S. Constitution, because journalists are supposed to be the check and balance on government. We're supposed to be holding those in power accountable. We're not supposed to be their megaphone. That's what the corporate media have become.

I really do think that if for one week in the United States we saw the true face of war, we saw people's limbs sheared off, we saw kids blown apart, for one week, war would be eradicated. Instead, what we see in the U.S. media is the video war game.

We must build a trickle-up media that reflects the true character of this country and its people. A democratic media serving a democratic society.

While law-abiding Muslims are forced to hide in their homes, and animal-rights activists are labeled as terrorists for undercover filming of abusive treatment at factory farms, right-wing hate groups are free to organize, parade, arm themselves to the hilt and murder with chilling regularity. It’s time for our society to confront this very real threat.

War coverage should be more than a parade of retired generals and retired government flacks posing as reporters.

During a news conference, when he was standing with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President [Donald] Trump responded to a question from an Israeli reporter about the rise in anti-Semitic attacks - by boasting about his election victory.

In the meantime, it just makes it a little harder to smile. But so does the world.