Press freedom not the key to good journalism? Perhaps, says Media Guardian columnist Martin Kettle. Like Newsweek's Robert J. Samuelson, Kettle warns against overly-partisan journalism, in this case, using British coverage of the European Union constitutional debates as a test case. The U.K. media, Kettle says, has turned toward Europe to both fan the flames of alarmism about immigration (on the right) and urge integration (on the left). Front page splash-headlines, fiery leads chock-full of figurative language and television appearances by top editors have pushed journalists to the fore of the policy debate, when they should be acting as disinterested observers, Kettle writes. The solution? Not unadulterated press freedom, but perhaps the creation of a bipartisan, Parliament press oversight committee to "ask editors and senior journalists to explain their coverage of public life. You can hear the howls of outrage already - but the aim would be scrutiny not regulation."

Source: Media Guardian