The leftbloggers are barking mad over the demotion of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, and making all the usual paranoiac claims about the rise of the evil corporate-theocratic-fascist state, which apparently is being orchestrated from a dial-up connection somewhere in northern Alaska.

Interesting comparison, though: The Left hates the Right’s media — Fox News and talk radio in particular. The Right hates the Left’s media — the New York Times, the Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, &c. The Right has responded by writing some angry letters and engaging in daily, relentless criticism of the excesses of the liberal media. Nowhere has that been more important than on Rush and Hannity’s shows. The Left, on the other hand, wants to use the government to censor its opponents and critics, in the guise of resurrecting the Fairness Doctrine. There is much talk on the Left of trying to use anti-trust laws to break up media companies. Various Democrats have threatened to use the FCC to punish their critics. And the Left gets the government to fund its media — PBS, NPR, &c.

Which approach is more conducive to a free society? Republicans’ criticizing MSNBC or Democrats’ threatening to use the government to drive Rush Limbaugh off the airwaves? Which approach actually constitutes censorship?