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Top 25 undercovered news stories in the United States. [via Bird on a Wire]

It seems that the editors of US-based magazines are selling out their editorial space – to the DEA. Now, the line between edit and ad isn’t as clear as it used to be – in the old church-and-state days. My old high school friend Tyler is even leading the charge to dismantling the line altogether with his magazine Wallpaper*, which features an in-house ad agency, I understand.

That said, media outlets have always been commercial enterprises, and I’ve read my Chomsky. I know what’s what. I know, intellectually, that there is no purity. That much (if not most) editorial content is bought and paid for. And that even that which isn’t bought outright overwhelmingly supports a non-critical stance towards the commercialism etc. I’m not naive!

But still – there’s a difference. Magazines aren’t supposed to be outright gov’t propoganda tools. Salon reports that they have been just that.

I should add one thing – I don’t have a problem with Wallpaper* doing their thing, particularly. It’s a fashion mag, or a lifestyle mag – you know what you’re getting. If they did hard news, that would be a different story. In truth I kind of admire the ballsiness Tyler and his crew had in putting the whole thing together.