Questions come to mind on the new book from conservative icon Mark Levin as he promises to show how the once great tradition of the American free press has degenerated to public disdain and disgrace.

Of course, this writer ordered an advance copy from Barnes and Noble. From promotion, Levin asserts the once honored craft has become a standard-less profession after squandering trust of the American public through its own “abandonment of reportorial integrity and objective journalism.”

Promoted both as a historical review and current summary, the first question is: What solution(s) does Levin propose?

Second and most critical to this publication: What consideration does Levin explore of local journalism? Assuming “all politics is local” as former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill often asserted, then how much more so is all media local? Local leads to national so local media is foundational – a shared bedrock of understanding.

This writer asserts local media is the critical component of the national dialogue most often ignored – the platform closest to hearth and home that ensures government is honest, just and responsive to the people. For that reason, TulsaToday.com was founded in 1996 and we remain the oldest, independent online local news service in the world. To read more of how this writer, publisher began even further back in 1985, click here.

Levin writes, “It was only at the start of the Progressive Era and the twentieth century that the supposed ‘objectivity of the press’ first surfaced, leaving us where we are today: with a partisan party-press overwhelmingly aligned with a political ideology but hypocritically engaged in a massive untruth as to its real nature.”