When the media plays off street protests in Iran as the greatest freedom movement since Martin Luther King, and plays off the street protests in Honduras as dangerous 'unrest', we ought to finally wake up to the fact that we need to stop letting the media play us. "Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has returned to Honduras, though not to office. Unfortunately, press accounts still manage to mangle the story behind his ouster, relying on those who supported the coup to explain what happened. ... "Unfortunately much of the major media's reporting has aided this effort by reporting such statements as "Critics feared he intended to extend his rule past January, when he would have been required to step down." In fact, there was no way for Zelaya to "extend his rule" even if the referendum had been held and passed, and even if he had then gone on to win a binding referendum on the November ballot. The June 28 referendum was nothing more than a non-binding poll of the electorate, asking whether the voters wanted to place a binding referendum on the November ballot to approve a redrafting of the country's constitution.... The most that could be said is that if a new constitution were eventually approved, Zelaya might have been able to run for a second term at some future date.""