is legendary. Most of the reporters simply have no clue about the military or aviation. My all-time favorite caption error showed a picture of an E-3A Sentry (AWACS) airplane and called it an "E-2 Hawkeye jet fighter." Good grief, that 3 errors in 4 words, a possible record! They got the name, designation, and the type wrong. Either they don't know the difference or they're to lazy to care about their job. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to see a caption one day that reads "Tony Blair, Vegas showgirl" while showing a picture of Margaret Thacher.

Most of the media is similiarly ignorant about guns. I remember a few years ago when there was an all out effort to demonize semi-automatic weapons. I read an article by a reporter who referred to a "semi-automatic revolver." I'd love to have one of those, it'd be worth a fortune since none have ever been made.

When you're involved in a profession or love a subject, you tend to learn a lot about it. As a result, it becomes easy to spot the stupid mistakes that reporters make. I can't help but wonder why do we listen to them about anything else? I admittedly don't know as much about economics or foreign policy as I do about aviation, space, the military, and computers. However, if I can't trust the reporters to get their facts straight about my subjects, how can I trust them to get the facts straight about _any_ subject?

Our country depends on an informed electorate and a free press. You can't have an informed electorate if the press doesn't do their job. Years ago, I asked a reporter about the function of the press in a free society. His answer was both blunt and accurate - "To make money for the publisher."