Great post! There's a lot of history that has been eaten by the record keepers that Americans in particular would do well to understand... the propaganda here is far from new. We get told about dirty reporting and"mudslingers" in school (at least I was) but the history is largely glossed over. I feel the story of Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet is one they are trying to erase due to clear parallels to the media of today. Only by looking up each member would one realize they were not only outspoken and powerful racists but also the chief editors of the major papers of the day....Couple that with his "gag rules" and burning of abolitionist newsletters and this fact would seem important enough for the history books, yet...